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The  EtMopiairiL  Kile 


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JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA; 


LIFE   AND   LANDSCAPES    FROM    EGYPT 

TO  THE  NEGRO  KINGDOMS  OF 

THE    WHITE    NILE. 


BY 


BAYARD    TAYLOR 


»itj  a  m^  ut  SllEHtrationg  hn  tje  autlior. 


TENTH    EDITION 


NEW  YORK: 
G.     P.    PUTNAM,     506    BROADWAY 

1859. 


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according  to  Act  at  Oor%re9«,  In  the  year  1864,  by 
G.  P.  PUTNAM  &  CO., 

la  tae  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Oourt  for  the  Soathern  District  of 
New  York. 


B.  OEAIGHEAD, 

Printer,  Stereofyper,  and  Electrotypvr, 

Caitort  33tnnjmg, 

81,  83,  and  85  Centre  Street. 


f' 


iBi  jbicateD    to 

A.  B. 

on    SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA 

BY 

HIS     FELLOW-TRAVELLER     IN     EGYPT, 

B.  T. 


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0 


[iJiriVBRSITYj 
PREFACE. 


m^ 


There  is  an  old  Italian  proverb,  which  says  a  man 
has  lived  to  no  purpose,  unless  he  has  either  built  a 
house,  begotten  a  son,  or  written  a  book.  As  I  have 
already  complied  more  than  once  with  the  latter  of 
these  requisitions,  i  must  seek  to  justify  the  present 
repetition  thereof,  on  other  grounds.  My  reasons  for 
offering  this  volume  to  the  public  are,  simply,  that 
there  is  room  for  it.  It  is  the  record  of  a  journey  which 
led  me,  for  the  most  part,  over  fresh  fields,  by  paths 
which  comparatively  few  had  trodden  before  me.  Al- 
though I  cannot  hope  to  add  much  to  the  general 
stock  of  information  concerning  Central  Africa,  I  may 
serve,  at  least,  as  an  additional  witness,  to  confirm  or 
illustrate  the  evidence  of  others.  Hence,  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  work  has  appeared  to  me  rather  in  the  light 


2  PEEPACE. 

of  a  duty  than  a  diversion,  and  I  have  endeavored  to 
impart  as  much  instruction  as  amusement  to  the 
reader.  While  seeking  to  give  correct  pictures  of  the 
rich,  adventurous  life  into  which  I  was  thrown,  I  ha^e 
resisted  the  temptation  to  yield  myself  up  to  its  more 
suhtle  and  poetic  aspects.  My  aim  has  been  to  furnish 
a  faithful  narrative  of  my  own  experience,  believing 
that  none  of  those  embellishments  which  the  imagina- 
tion so  readily  furnisheSj  can  equal  the  charm  of  the 
unadorned  truth. 

There  are  a  few  words  of  further  explanation  which 
I  wish  to  say.  The  journey  was  undertaken  solely 
for  the  purpose  of  restoring  a  frame  exhausted  by 
severe  mental  labor.  A  previous  experience  of  a  tropi- 
cal climate  convinced  me  that  I  should  best  accomplish 
my  object  by  a  visit  to  Egypt,  and  as  I  had  a  whole 
winter  before  me,  I  determined  to  penetrate  as  far  into 
the  interior  of  Africa  as  the  time  would  allow,  attracted 
less  by  the  historical  and  geographical  interest  of  those 
regions  than  by  the  desire  to  participate  in  their  free, 
vigorous,  semi-barbaric  life.  If  it  had  been  my  inten- 
tion, as  some  of  my  friends  supposed,  to  search  for  the 
undiscovered  sources  of  the  White  Nile,  I  should  not 
have  turned  back,  until  the  aim  was  accomplished  or  all 
means  had  failed. 

I  am  aware  that,  by  including  in  this  work  my 
journey  through  Egypt,  I  have  gone  over  much  ground 


PREFACE. 


which  is  already  familiar.  Egypt,  however,  was  the 
vestibule  through  which  I  passed  to  Ethiopia  and  the 
Idngdoms  beyond,  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  omit  my 
impressions  of  that  country  without  detracting  from 
the  completeness  of  the  narrative.  This  book  is  the 
record  of  a  single  journey,  which,  both  in  its  character 
and  in  the  circumstances  that  suggested  and  accompa- 
nied it,  occupies  a  separate  place  in  my  memory.  Its 
performance  was  one  uninterrupted  enjoyment,  for, 
whatever  the  privations  to  which  it  exposed  me,  they 
were  neutralized  by  the  physical  delight  of  restored 
health  and  by  a  happy  confidence  in  the  successful 
issue  of  the  journey,  which  never  forsook  me.  It  is 
therefore  but  just  to  say,  that  the  pictures  I  have 
drawn  may  seem  over-bright  to  others  who  may  here- 
after follow  me  ;  and  I  should  warn  all  such  that  they 
must  expect  to  encounter  many  troubles  and  annoy- 
ances. 

Although  I  have  described  somewhat  minutely  the 
antiquities  of  Nubia  and  Ethiopia  which  I  visited,  and 
have  not  been  insensible  to  the  interest  which  every 
traveller  in  Egypt  must  feel  in  the  remains  of  her 
ancient  art,  I  have  aimed  at  giving  representations  of 
the  living  races  which  inhabit  those  countries  rather 
than  the  old  ones  which  have  passed  away.  I  have 
taken  it  for  granted  that  the  reader  will  feel  more 
interested — as  I  was — in  a  live   Arab,  than  a  dead 


4  PRSFAOE. 

Pliaraoli.    I  am  indebted  wholly  to  the  works  of  Cham-, 
pollion,  WiUdnson  and  Lepsius  for  whatever  allusions  I 
have  made  to  the  age  and  character  of  the  Egyptian 
:     ruins.  B.  T. 

New  Yoek,  July,  1864. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  L 

ArrlTil  at  Alexandria— The  Landing— My  First  Oriental  Bath— The  City— Prepar** 
tions  for  Departaro, ,'     ^' 

CHAPTER  a 

Departure— The  Eangia— The  Egyptian  Climate— The  Mahmoudieh  Canal— Entrance 
into  the  Nile— Pleasures  of  the  Joomey— Studying  Arabic— Sight  of  the  Pyramida 
—The  Barrage— Approach  to  Cairo, 21 

CHAPTER  m. 

Entrance- The  Ezbeklyeh— Saracenic  Houses- Donkeys— The  Bazaars— The  Streeta 
—Processions— View  from  the  Citadel— Moeque  of  Mohammed  Ali— The  Eoad  to 
Suez— The  Island  of  Bhoda, 84 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Necessity  of  Leaving  Immediately— Engaging  a  Boat— The  Dragomen— Achmet  e! 
Saidi — Funds — Information— Procuring  an  Outfit— Preparing  for  the  Desert— The 
Lucky  Day— Exertions  to  Leave— OflF, 46 

CHAPTER  V. 

Howling  Dervishes— A  Chicken  Factory— Eide  to  the  Pyramids— Quarrel  with  the 
Arabs— The  Ascent— View  from  the  Summit— Backsheesh— Effect  of  Pyramid- 
dimbing— The  Sphinx— Playing  the  Cadi— We  obtain  Justice— Visit  to  Sakkara 
•nd  the  Mummy  Pits— The  Exhumation  of  Memphis — Interview  with  M.  Mariett© 
-Account  of  his  Dlscoverlea— Statue  of  Eemeses  II.— Eetum  to  the  Nile,    .         60 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Leaying  the  Pjrramids— A  Calm  and  a  Breeze— A  Coptic  Visit— Minyeh— The  Grottoes 
of  Beni-Hassan — Doum  Palms  and  Crocodiles — Djebel  Aboufayda — Entrance  into 
Upper  Egypt— Diversions  of  the  Boatmen — Siont— Its  T<«nbs— A  Landscape— A 
Bath, Tl 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Independence  of  Nile  Life- The  Dahabiyeh— Our  Servants— Our  Eesidenco— Our  Man- 
ner of  Living— The  Climate — The  Natives— Costume — ^Our  Sunset  Eepose— My 
Friend— A  Sensuous  Life  Defended, 88 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Calm— Mountains  and  Tombs — A  Night  Adventure  in  Ekhmin— Character  of  the 
Boatmen— Fair  Wind— Pilgrims — Egyptian  Agriculture— Sugar  and  Cotton— Graiu 
—Sheep — Arrival  at  Kenneh— A  Landscape— The  Temple  of  Dendera— First  Inv- 
pressions  of  Egyptian  Ai  —Portrait  of  Cleopatra— A  Happy  Meeting— "We  approach 
Thebes, 98 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Arrival  at  Thebes — Ground-Plan  of  the  Eemains — "We  Cross  to  the  "Western  Bank — 
Guides— The  Temple  of  Goorneh— Valley  of  the  Kings'  Tombs— Belzonfs  Tomb — 
The  Eaces  of  Men— Vandalism  of  Antiquarians— Brace's  Tomb— Memnon— The 
Grandfather  of  Sesostris- The  Head  of  Amunopb— The  Colossi  of  the  Plain— 
Memnonian  Music— The  Statue  of  Eemeses— The  Memnonium— Beauty  of  Egyp- 
tian Art— More  Scrambles  among  the  Tombs— The  Bats  of  the  Assasseef— Medee- 
net  Abou— Sculptured  Histories— The  Great  Court  of  the  Temple— We  return  to 
Luxor, 118 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Dancing  Girls  of  Egypt— A  N%ht  Scene  in  Luxor— The  Orange-Blossom  and  th© 
Apple-Blossom— The  Beautiful  Bemba— The  Dance— Performance  of  the  Apple- 
Blossom— The  Temple  of  Luxor — A  Mohammedan  School — Gallop  to  Karnak— 
View  of  the  Euins— The  Great  Hall  of  Pillars— Bedouin  Diversions— A  Night 
Eide— Karnak  under  the  Full  Moon— Farewell  to  Thebes,      ....        181 

CHAPTER  XL 

The  Temple  of  Hermontis— Esneli  and  its  Temple— The  Governor— El  Kab  by  Torch- 
light—The Temple  of  Edfou— The  Quarries  of  Djebel  Silsileh—Ombos— Approach 
to  Nubia— Change  in  the  Scenery  and  Inhabitants— A  Mirage -Arrival  at  As- 
souan,         146 

CHAPTER  XII. 

An  Ofllcial  Visit— Achmet's  Dexterity— The  Island  of  Elephantine— Nubian  Ohildrea-- 
TriptoPhll8&—Linant  Bey —The  Island  of  Phil»— Sculptures— The  Negro  Bace- 


CONTENTS.  1 

Breakfast  in  a  Ptolemaic  Temple  -The  Island  of  Biggeh— Backoheesh— The  Cataract 
—The  Granite  Quarries  of  Assouan— The  Travellers  separate,        ...       152 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Solitary  Travel— Scenery  of  the  Nubian  Nile— Agriculture— The  Inhabitants— Arrival 
at  Korosko— The  Governor— The  Tent  Pitched— Shekh  Abou-Mohammed— Bar- 
gaining for  Camels— A  Drove  of  Giraffes— Visits— Preparations  for  the  Desert— My 
Last  Evening  on  the  Nile, 162 

CHAPTER  XrV. 

The  Curve  of  the  Nile— Routes  across  the  Desert— Our  Caravan  starts— Biding  on  a 
Dromedary— The  Guide  and  Camel-drivers— Hair-dressing— El  Biban— Scenery- 
Dead  Camels— An  Unexpected  Visit— The  Guide  makes  my  Grave— The  Eiver 
without  Water— Characteristics  of  the  Mirage— Desert  Life— The  Sun— The  Desert 
Air — Infernal  Scenery— The  Wells  of  Murr-hat— Christmas — Moimtain  Chains- 
Meeting  Caravans— Plains  of  Gravel — The  Story  of  Joseph — Djebel  Mokr&t — The 
Last  Day  in  the  Desert— We  see  the  Nile  again, 171 

CHAPTER  XV. 

A  Draught  of  Water— Abou-Hammed— The  Island  of  Mokr&t — Ethiopian  Scenery — 
The  People— An  Ababdeh  Apollo— Encampment  on  the  Nile— Tomb  of  an  English- 
man—Eesa's  Wedding— A  White  Arab — The  Last  Day  of  the  Year— Abou-Hashym 
—Incidents— Loss  of  my  Thermometer— The  Valley  of  Wild  Asses— The  Eleventh 
Cataract— Approach  to  Berber— Vultures— Eyonb  Outwitted— We  reach  El  Mek- 
heyref— The  Caravan  Broken  up, 198 

CHAPTER  XVL 

A  Wedding— My  Reception  by  the  Military  Governor— Achmet— The  Bridegroom — A 
Guard- 1  am  an  American  Bey— K6ff— The  Bey's  Visit- The  Civil  Governor — 
About  the  Navy— The  Priest's  Visit— Biding  in  State— The  Dongolese  Stallion— A 
Merchant's  House— The  Town — Dinner  at  the  Governor's— The  Pains  of  Royalty — 
A  Salute  to  the  American  Flag— Departure, SOt 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Fortunate  Travel— The  America— Ethiopian  Scenery — The  Atbara  River — Darner — A 
Melon  Patch— Agriculture— The  Inhabitants— Change  of  Scenery— The  First  Hip- 
popotamus— Crocodiles — Effect  of  My  Map — The  Rais  and  Sailors— Arabs  in  Ethio- 
pia—Ornamental Scars— Beshir— The  Slave  Bakhita— We  Approach  Meroe,         21» 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Arrival  at  Bedjerowiyeh— The  Ruins  of  Meroe- Walk  Across  the  Plain — The  Pyra- 
mids-Character of  their  Masonry — The  Tower  and  Vault— Finding  of  the  Trea- 
sure—The Second  Group— More  Ruins -Site  of  the  City— Number  of  the  Pyramids 
—The  Antiquity  of  Mero6— Ethiopian  and  Egyptian  Civilization— The  Caucasian 
Race— EefleeUons, SSH 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


The  Landscapes  of  Ethiopia— M7  Evenings  beside  the  Nile—Experiences  of  the  Ara- 
bian Nights— The  Story  of  the  Sultana  Zobeido  ard  the  Wood-cutter- Character 
of  the  Arabian  Tales— Religion. 288 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Arrival  at  Shendy- Appearance  of  the  Town-Shendy  in  Former  Days— We  Touch  at 
El  Metemma— The  Nile  beyond  Shendy— Flesh  Diet  vs.  Vegetables— We  Escape 
Shipwreck— A  Walk  on  Shore— The  Rapids  of  Derreira— Djebel  Gerri— The 
Twelfth  Cataract— Night  in  the  Mountain  Gorge— Crocodiles— A  Drink  of  Mareesa 
—My  Birth-Day — Fair  Wind— Approach  to  Khartoum— The  Junction  of  the  Two 
Niles— Appearance  of  the  City — We  Drop  Anchor,  .       ,       ,       ,       ,       263 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  American  Flag— A  Rencontre— Search  for  a  House— The  Austrian  Consular  Agent 
— Description  of  his  Residence- The  Garden— The  Menagerie— Barbaric  Pomp 
and  State— Picturesque  Character  of  the  Society  of  Khartoum— Foundation  and 
Growth  of  the  City— Its  Appearance— The  Population— Unhealthlness  of  the  Cli- 
mate—Assembly of  Ethiopian  Chieftains— Visit  of  Two  Shekhs— Dinner  and  Fire- 
works,  270 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Visit  to  the  Catholic  Mission— Dr.  Knoblecher,  the  Apostolic  Vicar— Moussa  Bey — 
Visit  to  Lattif  Pasha— Reception— The  Pasha's  Palace— Lions— We  Dine  with  the 
Pasha— Ceremonies  upon  the  Occasion— Music — The  Guests — ^The  Franks  in  Khar- 
toum— Dr.  Peney — Visit  to  the  Sultana  Nasra— An  Ethiopian  Dinner — Character 
of  the  Sultana, 280 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Eecent  Explorations  of  Soudan- Limit  of  the  Tropical  Rains— The  Conquest  of  Ethio- 
pia—Countries Tributary  to  Egypt— The  District  of  Takka— Expedition  of  Moussa 
Bey— The  Atbara  River— The  Abyssinian  Frontier — Christian  Ruins  of  Abou- 
Har&sfl— The  Kingdom  of  Sennaar— Kordofan— Dar-Far— The  Princess  of  Dar- 
Fiir  in  Kliartoum— Her  Visit  to  Dr.  Reitz— Tho  Unknown  Countries  of  Central 
AfWca,- 2y7 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Bxourslons  around  Khartoum— A  Race  into  the  Desert— Euphorbia  Forest— Tho 
Banks  of  tho  Blue  Nile— A  Saint's  Grave— The  Confluence  of  the  Two  Niles— Mag- 
nitude of  the  Nile— Comparative  Size  of  the  Rivers— Their  Names— Desire  to  pene- 
trate further  into  Africa — Attraction8  of  the  White  Nile— Engage  the  Boat  John 
Ledyard — Former  Restrictions  against  exploring  the  River— Visit  to  the  Pasha— 
Despotic  Hospitality— Achmet's  Misgivings— We  set  sail 809 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


Departnre  from  Khartoinn — We  enter  th«  White  Nile— Mirage  and  Landscape— Tlie 
Consul  returns- Progress — ^Loss  of  the  Flag -Scenery  of  the  Shores — Territory  of 
the  Hassaniyebs — Curious  Conjugal  Custom— Multitudes  of  Water  Fowls— Increas- 
ed Kichnessof  Vegetation— Apes — Sunset  on  the  White  Nile — We  reach  the  King- 
dom of  tho  Shillook  Negroes, 320 


CHAPTER  XXVL 

Morning — Magnificence  of  the  Island  Scenery — Birds  and  Hippopotami- Flight  of  the 
Natives— The  Island  of  Aba— Signs  of  Population-  A  Band  of  Warriors— Tho  Shekh 
and  the  Sultan— A  Treaty  of  Peace— The  Eobe  of  Honor— Suspicions— We  walk  to 
the  Village — Appearance  of  the  Sliillooks- The  Village — ^The  Sultan  gives  Audience 
— Women  and  Children— Ornaments  of  the  Natives— My  Watch— A  Jar  of  Honey — 
Suspicion  and  Alarm — ^The  Shillook  and  the  Sultan's  Black  Wife— Character  of  the 
Shillooks— The  J^nd  of  the  Lotus— Population  of  the  Shillook  Kingdom— The  Turn 
ing  Point— A  View  from  the  Mast-Head, 829 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Explorations  of  the  White  Nile— Dr.  Knobleeher's  Voyage  in  1849-50— The  Lands 
of  the  Shillooks  and  Dinkas- Intercourse  with  the  Natives— Wild  Elephants  and 
Giraffes— The  Sobat  Eiver— The  Country  of  Marshes— The  Gazelle  Lake— The 
Nuehrs— Interview  with  the  Chief  of  the  Kyks— The  Zhir  Country— Land  of  the 
Baris— Tho  Eapids  Surmounted — Arrival  at  Logwek,  in  L«^  4P  lO'  North— Panora- 
ma from  Mt  Logwek— Sources  of  the  White  Nile— Character  of  the  Bari  Nation— 
Eeturn<^theExpedition— Fascination  of  the  Nile, 846 


CHAPTER  XXVIIL 

We  leave  the  Islands  of  the  Shillooks— Tropical  Jungles— A  Whim  and  its  Conseqnen- 
oes— Lairs  of  Wild  Beasts— Arrival  among  the  Hassaniyebs- A  Vill^e— The  Wo- 
man and  the  Sultan— A  Dance  of  Salutation— My  Arab  Sailor— A  Swarthy  Cleopa- 
tra— Salutation  of  the  Saint— Miraculous  Fishing— Night  View  of  a  Hassaniyeh  Vil- 
lage—Wad Shdllayeh- A  Shekh's  Eesidence— An  Ebony  Cherub — The  Cook  At- 
tempts Suicide— Evening  Landscape-ZThe  Natives  and  their  Cattle— A  Boyish 
Governor— We  reach  Khartoum  at  Midnight,  .        ^       .       .        .        .        856 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

The  Departnre  of  Abd-el  Kader  Bey— An  Illuminated  Picture— The  Breakfast  on  the 
Island— Horsemanship— The  Pasha's  Stories— Departure  of  Lattif  Effendi's  Expedi- 
tion—A Night  on  the  Sand— Abou-Sin,  and  his  Shukoree  Warriors— Change  In  the 
Climate— Intense  Heat  and  its  Effects— Preparations  for  Eetuming— A  Money 
Transaction— Farewell  Visits— A  Dinner  with  Eoyal  Guests— Jplly  King  Dyaab— 
A  Shillook  Dance— Eeconciliation— Taking  I^ave  of  my  Pets,       .        .        .        8T2 


10  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

The  Commerce  of  Soudftn— Avenues  of  Trade— The  Merchants— Character  of  the  Im 
ports— Speculation— The  Gum  Trade  of  Kordofan— The  Ivoiy  Trade— Abuses  of  th« 
Government— The  Traffic  in  Slaves— Prices  of  Slaves— Their  Treatment,     .       884 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Farewell  Breakfast— Departure  from  Khartoum— Parting  with  Dr.  Eeltz— A  Predic- 
tion and  its  Fuliilment — Dreary  Appearance  of  the  Country — Lions— Burying- 
Grounds— The  Natives— My  Kababish  Guide,  Mohammed— Character  of  the  Arabs 
— Habits  of  Deception — My  Dromedary — Mutton  and  Mareesa — A  Soudfin  Ditty — 
The  Eowyan— Akaba  Gerri— Heat  and  Scenery— An  Altercation  with  the  Guide— 
A  Mishap— A  Landscape— Tedious  Approach  to  El  Metemma— Appearance  o{  the 
Town— Preparations  for  the  Desert— Meeting  Old  Acquaintances,         .       .       892 

CHAPTER  XXXn. 

Entering  the  Desert— Character  of  the  Scenery— Wells— Fear  of  the  Arabs— The  La- 
loom  Tree — ^Effect  of  the  Hot  Wind — Mohammed  overtakes  us — Arab  Endurance — 
An  unpleasant  Bedfellow— Comedy  of  the  Crows— Gazelles — We  encounter  a  Sand- 
storm—The Mountain  of  Thirst— The  Wells  of  Djeekdud— A  Mountain  Pass- 
Desert  Intoxication— Scenery  of  the  Table-land— Bir  Khannik— The  Kababish 
Arabs— Gazelles  again— Euins  of  an  Ancient  Coptic  Monastery— Distant  View  of  the 
Nile  Valley— Djebel  Berkel— We  come  into  Port, 406 

CHAPTER  XXXra. 

Our  whereabouts— Shekh  Mohammed  Abd  e'-Djebal— My  residence  at  Abddm — Cross- 
ing the  River— A  Superb  Landscape— The  Town  of  Merawe— Eido  to  Djebel  Berkel 
— ^The  Temples  of  Napata— Ascent  of  the  Mountain— Ethiopian  Panorama— Lost 
and  Found— The  Pyramids— The  Governor  of  Merawe— A  Scene  In  the  Divan— 
The  Shekh  and  I— The  Governor  Dines  with  me— Euins  of  the  City  of  Napata— 
A  Talk  about  Eeligions— Engaging  Camels  for  Wadi-Halfa— The  Shekh's  Parting 
Blessing, .       .       421 

CHAPTER  XXXiV. 

Appearance  of  the  Country— Korti — The  Town  of  Ambukol— The  Caravan  reorgan 
Ized — A  Fiery  Eide— We  reach  Edabbe— An  Illuminated  Landscape— A  Torment 
—Nubian  Agriculture— Old  Dongola— The  Palace-Mosque  of  the  Nubian  Kings — A 
Panorama  of  Desolation— The  Old  City— Nubian  Gratitude- Another  Sand-Storm 
— A  Dreary  Journey — The  Approach  to  Handak — A  House  of  Doubtful  Character — 
The  Inmates— Journey  toEl'Ordee  (New  Dongola)— Khoorshld  Bey — ^Appearance 
of  the  Town, 488 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

We  start  for  Wadl-Halfa— The  Plague  of  Black  Gnats— Mohammed's  Coffin— The 
Wand  of  Argo- Market-Day— Scenery  of  the   Nile— Entering  Dar  EI-Mihass— 


CONTENTS.  11 


Eulned  Fortresses— The  Camel-Men— A  Eocky  Chaos— Fakir  Bender— The  Akaba 
of  Mahass— Camp  in  the  Wilderness— The  Charm  of  Desolation— The  Nile  again— 
Pilgrims  from  Dar-Fiir— The  Straggle  of  the  Nile— An  Arcadian  Landscape — The 
Temple  of  Soleb— Dar  Sukk6t— The  Land  of  Dates— The  Island  of  Sai— A  Sea  of 
Sand— Camp  by  the  Eivor— A  Hyena  Barbecue 457 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

The  Batn  El-Hadjar,  or  Belly  of  Stone— Ancient  Granite  Quarries— The  Village  of 
Dal— A  Euined  Fortress— A  Wilderness  of  Stones— The  Hot  Springs  of  Ukm6— A 
Windy  Night— A  Dreary  Day  in  the  Desert— The  Shekh's  Camel  Fails— Descent  to 
Samneh- The  Temple  and  Cataract — Meersheh— The  Sale  of  Abou-Sin-*-We 
Emerge  from  the  Belly  of  Stone— A  Kababish  Caravan— The  Eock  of  Abou-Seer — 
View  of  the  Second  Cataract— We  reach  Wadi-Halfa— Selling  my  Dromedaries — 
Farewell  to  Abou-SIn— Thanksgiving  on  the  Ferry-boat— Parting  with  the  Camel- 
men,      471 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Wadl  Haifa— A  Boat  for  Assouan— We  Embark  on  the  Nile  Again — An  Egyptian 
Dream— The  Temples  of  Abou-Simbel— The  Smaller  Temple— The  Colossi  of 
Eemeses  IL — Vulgarity  of  Travellers — Entering  the  Great  Temple— My  Impres- 
sions—Character of  Abou-Simbel— The  Smaller  Chambers— The  Eaces  of  Men— 
Bemeses  and  the  Captive  Kings— Departure, 486 

CHAPTER  XXXVni. 

I  Lose  my  Sunshine,  and  Eegain  it— Nubian  Scenery— Derr-The  Temple  of  Amada 
—Mysterious  Eappings- Familiar  Scenes— Halt  at  Korosko— Escape  from  Ship- 
wreck—The  Temple  of  Sebooa— Chasing  other  Boats— Temple  of  Djerf  Hossayn— 
A  Backsheesh  Experiment— Kalabshee— Temple  of  Dabdd— We  reach  the  Egyp- 
tian Frontier,       496 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

Assouan— A  Boat  for  Cairo— English  Tourists— A  Head-wind— Ophthalmia— Esneh — 
A  Mummied  Princess— Ali  Eflfendi's  Stories— A  Donkey  Afrite— Arrival  at  Luxor 
— The  Egyptian  Autumn— A  Day  at  Thebes— Songs  of  the  Sailors — Ali  leaves 
mo— Eide  to  Dendera— Head-winds  again— Visit  to  Tahtah — The  House  of  Eufaa 
Bey, 506 


CHAPTER  XL. 

Biout  in  Harvest-time— A  kind  Englishwoman— A  Slight  Experience  of  Hasheesh— 
The  Calm— Eapid  Progress  down  the  Nile— The  Last  Day  of  the  Voyage— Arri- 
val at  Cairo- Tourists  preparing  for  the  Desert— Parting  with  Achmet— Conclu 
rion. 611 


<^*^   OP  THR^^^ 


M  O  D  E  R  'N      D  R  i  E  N  T  a  L       C  0  S  T  U  M  E 


JOUENEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA 


CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCTION      TO      AFRICA. 

Arrival  at  Alexandria— The  Landing— My  First  Oriental  Bath- The  City— Prepara- 
tions for  Departure. 

I  LEFT  Smyrna  in  the  Lloyd  steamer,  Conte  SturmeVj  on  the 
first  day  of  November,  1851.  We  passed  the  blue  Sporadic 
Isles — Cos,  and  Rhodes,  and  Karpathos — and  crossing  the 
breadth  of  the  Eastern  Mediterranean,  favored  all  the  way  by 
unruffled  seas,  and  skies  of  perfect  azure,  made  the  pharos  of 
Alexandria  on  the  evening  of  the  3d.  The  entrance  to  the 
harbor  is  a  narrow  and  difficult  passage  through  reefs,  and  no 
vessel  dares  to  attempt  it  at  night,  but  with  the  first  streak  of 
dawn  we  were  boarded  by  an  Egyptian  pilot,  and  the  rising 
sun  lighted  up  for  us  the  white  walls  of  the  city,  the  windmills 
of  the  Ras  el-Tin,  or  Cape  of  Figs,  and  the  low  yellow  sand- 
hills in  which  I  recognized  Africa — ^for  they  were  prophetic  of 
the  desert  behind  them. 

We  entered  the  old  harbor  between  the  island  of  Pha- 
ros and  the  main  land  (now  connected  by  a  peninsular  strip. 
on  which  the  Frank  quarter  is  built),   soon   after   sunrise 


14  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

The  water  swarmed  with  boats  before  the  anchor  dropped, 
and  the  Egyptian  health  officer  had  no  sooner  departed 
than  we  were  boarded  by  a  crowd  of  dragomen,  hotel  run- 
ners, and  boatmen.  A  squinting  Arab,  who  wore  a  white 
dress  and  red  sash,  accosted  me  in  Italian,  offering  to  conduct 
me  to  the  Oriental  Hotel.  A  German  and  a  Smyrniote, 
whose  acquaintance  I  had  made  during  the  voyage,  joined  me 
in  accepting  his  services,  and  we  were  speedily  boated  ashore. 
We  landed  on  a  pile  of  stones,  not  far  from  a  mean-looking 
edifice  called  the  Custom-House.  Many  friends  were  there  to 
welcome  us,  and  I  shall  never  forget  the  eagerness  with  which 
they  dragged  us  ashore,  and  the  zeal  with  which  they  pom- 
melled one  another  in  their  generous  efforts  to  take  charge  of 
our  effects.  True,  we  could  have  wished  that  their  faces  had 
been  better  washed,  their  baggy  trousers  less  ragged  and  their 
red  caps  less  greasy,  and  we  were  perhaps  ungrateful  in  allow- 
ing our  Arab  to  rate  them  soundly  and  cuff  the  ears  of  the 
more  obstreperous,  before  our  trunks  and  carpet-bags  could  be 
portioned  among  them.  At  the  Custom-House  we  were  visit- 
ed by  two  dark  gentlemen,  in  turbans  and  black  flowing  robes, 
who  passed  our  baggage  without  scrutiny,  gently  whispering 
in  our  ears,  "  'backsheesh,^'' — a  word  which  we  then  heard  for 
the  first  time,  but  which  was  to  be  the  key-note  of  much  of  our 
future  experience.  The  procession  of  porters  was  then  set  in 
motion,  and  we  passed  through  several  streets  of  whitewashed 
two  story  houses,  to  the  great  square  of  the  Frank  quarter, 
which  opened  before  us  warm  and  brilliant  in  the  morning  sun- 
shine. 

The  principal  hotels  and  consulates  front  on  this  square 
The  architecture  is  Italian,  with  here  and  there  a  dash  of  Sar« 


ALEXANDRIA.  15 

acenic,  in  the  windows  and  doorways,  especially  in  new  build* 
ings.  A  small  obelisk  of  alabaster,  a  present  from  Mohammed 
Ali,  stands  in  the  centre,  on  a  pedestal  which  was  meant  for  a 
fountain,  but  has  no  water.  All  this  I  noted,  4s  well  as  a 
crowd  of  donkeys  and  donkey-boys,  and  a  string  of  laden 
camels,  on  our  way  to  the  hotel,  which  we  found  to  be  a  long 
and  not  particularly  clean  edifice,  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
square.  The  English  and  French  steamers  had  just  arrived, 
and  no  rooms  were  to  be  had  until  after  the  departure  of  the 
afternoon  boat  for  Cairo.  Our  dragoman,  who  called  himself 
Ibrahim,  suggested  a  bath  as  the  most  agreeable  means  of 
passing  the  intermediate  time. 

The  clear  sky,  the  temperature  (like  that  of  a  mild  July 
day  at  home),  and  the  novel  interest  of  the  groups  in  the 
streets,  were  sufficient  to  compensate  for  any  annoyance :  but 
when  we  reached  the  square  of  the  French  Church,  and  saw  a 
garden  of  palm-trees  waving  their  coronals  of  glittering  leaves, 
every  thing  else  was  forgotten.  My  German  friend,  who  had 
never  seen  palms,  except  as  starveling  exotics  in  Sorrento  and 
Smyrna,  lifted  his  hands  in  rapture,  and  even  I,  who  had 
heard  tens  of  thousands  rustle  in  the  hot  winds  of  the  Tropics, 
felt  my  heart  leap  as  if  their  beauty  were  equally  new  to  my 
eyes.  For  no  amount  of  experience  can  deprive  the  traveller 
of  that  happy  feeling  of  novelty  which  marks  his  first  day  on 
the  soil  of  a  new  continent.  I  gave  myself  up  wholly  to  its 
inebriation.  Et  ego  in  Africa^  was  the  sum  of  my  thoughts, 
and  I  neither  saw  nor  cared  to  know  the  fact  (which  we  dis- 
covered in  due  time),  that  our  friend  Ibrahim  was  an  arrant 
knave. 

The  bath  to  which  he  conducted  us  was  pronounced  to  b« 


16  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

the  finest  in  Alexandria,  the  most  superb  in  all  the  Orient, 
but  it  did  not  at  all  accord  with  our  ideas  of  Eastern  luxury. 
Moreover,  the  bath-keeper  was  his  intimate  friend,  and  would 
bathe  us  as  no  Christians  were  ever  bathed  before.  One  fact 
Ibrahim  kept  to  himself,  which  was,  that  his  intimate  friend 
and  he  shared  the  spoils  of  our  inexperience.  We  were  con- 
ducted to  a  one-story  building,  of  very  unprepossessing  exte- 
rior. As  we  entered  the  low,  vaulted  entrance,  my  ears  were 
saluted  with  a  dolorous,  groaning  sound,  which  I  at  first  con- 
jectured to  proceed  from  the  persons  undergoing  the  opera- 
tion, but  which  I  afterward  ascertained  was  made  by  a  wheel 
turned  by  a  buffalo,  employed  in  raising  water  from  the  well. 
In  a  sort  of  basement  hall,  smelling  of  soap-suds,  and  with  a 
large  tank  of  dirty  water  in  the  centre,  we  were  received  by 
the  bath-keeper,  who  showed  us  into  a  room  containing  three 
low  divans  with  pillows.  Here  we  disrobed,  and  Ibrahim, 
who  had  procm'cd  a  quantity  of  napkins,  enveloped  our  heads 
in  turbans  and  swathed  our  loins  in  a  simple  Adamite  gar- 
ment. Heavy  wooden  clogs  were  attached  to  our  feet,  and  an 
animated  bronze  statue  led  the  way  through  gloomy  passages, 
sometimes  hot  and  steamy,  sometimes  cold  and  soapy,  and 
redolent  of  any  thing  but  the  spicy  odors  of  Araby  the  Blest, 
to  a  small  vaulted  chamber,  lighted  by  a  few  apertures  in  the 
ceiling.  The  moist  heat  was  almost  suffocating ;  hot  water 
flowed  over  the  stone  floor,  and  the  stone  benches  we  sat  upon 
were  somewhat  cooler  than  kitchen  stoves.  The  bronze  indi- 
vidual left  us,  and  very  soon,  sweating  at  every  pore,  we  began 
to  think  of  the  three  Hebrews  in  the  furnace.  Our  comfort 
was  not  increased  by  the  groaning  sound  which  we  still  heard 
and  by  seeing,  through  a  hole  in  the  door,  five  or  six  naked 


MY    FIRST    ORIENTAL    BATH.  l7 

figures  lying  motionless  along  tlie  edge  of  a  steaming  vat,  in 
the  outer  room. 

Presently  our  statue  returned  with  a  pair  of  coarse  hair- 
gloves  on  his  hands.  He  snatched  off  our  turbans,  and  then, 
seizing  one  of  my  friends  by  the  shoulder  as  if  he  had  been  a 
sheep,  began  a  sort  of  rasping  operation  upon  his  back.  This 
process,  varied  occasionally  by  a  dash  of  scalding  water,  was 
extended  to  each  of  our  three  bodies,  and  we  were  then  suf- 
fered to  rest  awhile.  A  course  of  soap-suds  followed,  which 
was  softer  and  more  pleasant  in  its  effect,  except  when  he  took 
us  by  the  hair,  and  holding  back  our  heads,  scrubbed  our  faces 
most  lustily,  as  if  there  were  no  such  things  as  eyes,  noses  and 
mouths.  By  this  time  we  had  reached  such  a  salamandrine 
temperature  that  the  final  operation  of  a  dozen  pailfuls  of  hot 
water  poured  over  the  head,  was  really  delightful  After  a 
plunge  in  a  seething  tank,  we  were  led  back  to  our  chamber 
and  enveloped  in  loose  muslin  robes.  Turbans  were  bound  on 
our  heads  and  we  lay  on  the  divans  to  recover  from  the  lan- 
guor of  the  bath.  The  change  produced  by  our  new  costume 
was  astonishing.  The  stout  German  became  a  Turkish  mol- 
lah,  the  young  Smyrniote  a  picturesque  Persian,  and  I — I 
scarcely  know  what,  but,  as  my  friends  assured  me,  a  much 
better  Moslem  than  Frank.  Cups  of  black  coffee,  and  pipes 
of  inferior  tobacco  completed  the  process,  and  in  spite  of  the 
lack  of  cleanliness  and  superabundance  of  fleas,  we  went  forth 
lighter  in  body,  and  filled  with  a  calm  content  which  nothing 
seemed  able  to  disturb. 

After  a  late  breakfast  at  the  hotel,  we  sallied  out  for  a  sur* 
vey  of  the  city.  The  door  was  beleaguered  by  the  donkeys 
and  their  attendant  drivers,  who  hailed  us  in  all  languages  at 


18  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

once.  ^^Vfnes^j  Monsieur / ^^  "Take  a  ride,  sir;  here  is  a 
good  donkey!"  ^^  Schcener  Esel/^^  ^^  Prendete  il  mio  hur- 
rico  I  " — and  you  are  made  the  vortex  of  a  whirlpool  of  don- 
keys. The  one-eyed  donkey-boys  fight,  the  donkeys  kick,  and 
there  is  no  rest  till  you  have  bestridden  one  of  the  little 
beasts.  The  driver  then  gives  his  tail  a  twist  and  his  rump  a 
thwack,  and  you  are  carried  off  in  triumph.  The  animal  is  so 
small  that  you  seem  the  more  silly  of  the  two,  when  you  have 
mounted,  but  after  he  has  carried  you  for  an  hour  in  a  rapid 
gallop,  you  recover  your  dignity  in  your  respect  for  him. 

The  spotless  blue  of  the  sky  and  the  delicious  elasticity  of 
the  air  were  truly  intoxicating,  as  we'  galloped  between  gar- 
dens of  date-trees,  laden  with  ripe  fruit,  to  the  city  gate,  and 
through  it  into  a  broad  road,  fringed  with  acacias,  leading  to 
the  Mahmoudieh  canal.  But  to  the  south,  on  a  rise  of  dry, 
sandy  soil,  stood  the  Pillar  of  Diocletian — not  of  Pompey, 
whose  name  it  bears.  It  is  a  simple  column,  ninety-eight  feet 
in  height,  but  the  shaft  is  a  single  block  of  red  granite,  and 
stands  superbly  against  the  back-ground  of  such  a  sky  and 
such  a  sea.  It  is  the  only  relic  of  the  ancient  Alexandria 
worthy  of  its  fame,  but  you  could  not  wish  for  one  more  im- 
posing and  eloquent.  The  glowing  white  houses  of  the  town, 
the  minarets,  the  palms  and  the  acacias  fill  the  landscape,  but 
it  stands  apart  from  them,  in  the  sand,  and  looks  only  to  the 
sea  and  the  desert. 

In  the  evening  we  took  donkeys  again  and  rode  out  of  the 
town  to  a  cafe  on  the  banks  of  the  canal.  A  sunset  of  burn- 
ing rose  and  orange  sank  over  the  desert  behind  Pompey^s 
Pillar,  and  the  balmiest  of  breezes  stole  towards  us  from  the 
sea,  through  palm  gardens.     A  Swiss  gentleman,  M.  de  Gon. 


THE    DONKEY-BOY.  19. 

zenbach,  whose  kindness  I  shall  always  gratefully  remember 
accompanied  us.  As  we  sat  under  the  acacias,  sipping  the 
black  Turkish  coffee,  the  steamer  for  Cairo  passed,  disturbing 
the  serenity  of  the  air  with  its  foul  smoke,  and  marring  the 
delicious  repose  of  the  landscape  in  such  wise,  that  we  vowed 
we  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  steam  so  long  as  we  voyaged 
on  the  Nile.  Our  donkey-drivers  patiently  held  the  bridles 
of  our  long-eared  chargers  till  we  were  ready  to  return.  It 
was  dark,  and  not  seeing  at  first  my  attendant,  a  little  one- 
eyed  imp,  I  called  at  random  :  "  Abdallah  !  "  This,  it  hap- 
pened, was  actually  his  name,  and  he  came  trotting  up,  hold- 
ing the  stirrup  ready  for  me  to  mount.  The  quickness  with 
which  these  young  Arabs  pick  up  languages,  is  truly  astonish- 
ing. "  Gome  vi  chiamate  ?  "  (what's  your  name  ?)  I  asked 
of  Abdallah,  as  we  rode  homeward.  The  words  were  new  to 
him,  but  I  finally  made  him  understand  their  meaning,  where- 
upon he  put  his  knowledge  into  practice  by  asking  me :  "  Come 
vi  chiamate  ? "  "  Abbas  Pasha,"  I  replied.  "  Oh,  well," 
was  his  prompt  rejoinder,  "  if  you  are  Abbas  Pasha,  then  I  am 
Seyd  Pasha."  The  next  morning  he  was  at  the  door  with  his 
donkey,  which  I  fully  intended  to  mount,  but  became  entan- 
gled in  a  wilderness  of  donkeys,  out  of  which  Ibrahim  extri- 
cated me  by  hoisting  me  on  another  animal.  As  I  rode  away, 
I  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  little  fellow,  crying  lustily  over  his 
disappointment. 

We  three  chance  companions  fraternized  so  agreeably  that 
we  determined  to  hire  a  boat  for  Cairo,  in  preference  to  waiting 
for  the  next  steamer.  We  accordingly  rode  over  to  the  Mah- 
moudieh  Canal,  accompanied  by  Ibrahim,  to  inspect  the  barks. 
Like  all  dragomen,  Ibrahim  had  his  private  preferences,  and 


20  JOURNEY   IN    CENTRAL   AFRICA. 

conducted  us  on  board  a  boat  belonging  to  a  friend  of  his,  a 
grizzly  rais,  or  captain.  The  craft  was  a  small  kangia,  with 
a  large  lateen  sail  at  the  bow  and  a  little  one  at  the  stern.  It 
was  not  very  new,  but  looked  clean,  and  the  rais  demanded 
three  hundred  piastres  for  the  voyage.  The  piastre  is  the  cur- 
rent coin  of  the  East.  Its  value  is  fluctuating,  and  always 
higher  in  Egypt  than  in  Syria  and  Turkey,  but  may  be  assum- 
ed at  about  five  cents,  or  twenty  to  the  American  dollar.  Be- 
fore closing  the  bargain,  we  asked  the  advice  of  M.  de  Gon- 
zenbach,  who  immediately  despatched  his  Egyptian  servant 
and  engaged  a  boat  at  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  piastres. 
Every  thing  was  to  be  in  readiness  for  our  departure  on  the 
following  evening. 


TIBST   VOYAGB    OV   THE    NILK.  81 


CHAPTEK    II. 


FIRST     VOYAGB      ON     THE      NILE, 


D«partnre— The  Eangla — The  Egyptian  Climate— The  Mabmondieh  Canal — ^I 

into  the  Nile— Pleasures  of  the  Jonmey— Studying  Arabic— Sight  of  the  Pyramids 
— The  Barrage— Approach  to  Cairo. 

We  paid  a  most  exorbitant  bill  at  the  Oriental  Hotel,  and 
started  on  donkeyback  for  our  boat,  at  sunset.  Our  preparer 
tions  for  tbe  voyage  consisted  of  bread,  rice,  coffee,  sugar,  but- 
ter and  a  few  other  comestibles ;  an  earthen  furnace  and  char- 
coal; pots  and  stew-pans,  plates,  knives  and  forks,  wooden 
spoons,  coffee-cups  and  water-jars ;  three  large  mats  of  cane- 
leaves,  for  bedding ;  and  for  luxuries,  a  few  bottles  of  claret, 
and  a  gazelle-skin  stuffed  with  choice  Latakieh  tobacco.  We 
were  prudent  enough  to  take  a  supper  with  us  from  the  hotel, 
and  not  trust  to  our  own  cooking  the  first  night  on  board. 

We  waited  till  dark  on  the  banks  of  the  Canal  before  our 
baggage  appeared.  There  is  a  Custom-House  on  all  sides  of 
Alexandria,  and  goods  going  out  must  pay  as  well  as  goods  com- 
ing in.  The  gate  was  closed,  and  nothing  less  than  the  silver 
oil  of  a  dollar  greased  its  hinges  sufficiently  for  our  cart  to  pass 
through.  But  what  was  our  surprise  on  reaching  the  boat,  to 
find  the  same  kangia  and  the  same  grizzly  rais,  who  had  pre- 
viously demanded  three  hundred  piastres.     He  seemed  no  less 


22  JOURNEY    IN    CENTKAL    AFRICA. 

astonished  than  we,  for  the  bargain  had  been  made  by  a  third 
party,  and  I  believe  he  bore  us  a  grudge  during  the  rest  of  the 
voyage.  The  contract  placed  the  boat  at  our  disposition ;  so 
we  went  on  board  immediately,  bade  adieu  to  the  kind  friends 
who  had  accompanied  us,  and  were  rowed  down  the  Canal  in 
the  full  glow  of  African  moonlight. 

Some  account  of  our  vessel  and  crew  will  not  be  out  of 
place  here.  The  boat  was  about  thirty-five  feet  in  length,  with 
a  short  upright  mast  in  the  bow,  supporting  a  lateen  sail  fifty 
feet  long.  Against  the  mast  stood  a  square  wooden  box,  lined 
with  clay,  which  served  as  a  fireplace  for  cooking.  The  mid- 
dle boards  of  the  deck  were  loose  and  allowed  entrance  to  the 
hold,  where  our  baggage  was  stowed.  The  sailors  also  lifted 
them  and  sat  on  the  cross-beams,  with  their  feet  on  the  shal- 
low keel,  when  they  used  the  oars.  The  cabin,  which  occu 
pied  the  stern  of  the  boat,  was  built  above  and  below  the  deck. 
BO  that  after  stepping  down  into  It  we  could  stand  upright 
The  first  compartment  contained  two  broad  benches,  with  i» 
smaller  chamber  in  the  rear,  allowing  just  enough  room,  in  all, 
for  three  persons  to  sleep.  We  spread  our  mats  on  the 
boards,  placed  carpet-bags  for  pillows  (first  taking  out  the 
books),  and  our  beds  were  made.  Ibrahim  slept  on  the  deck, 
against  the  cabin-door. 

Our  rais,  or  captain,  was  an  old  Arab,  with  a  black,  wrink- 
led face,  a  grizzly  beard  and  a  tattered  blue  robe.  There  were 
five  sailors — one  with  crooked  eyes,  one  with  a  moustache,  two 
copper-colored  Fellahs,  and  one  tall  Nubian,  black  as  the 
Egyptian  darkness.  The  three  latter  were  our  favorites,  and 
more  cheerful  and  faithful  creatures  I  never  saw.  One  of  the 
Fellahs  sang  nasal  love-songs  the  whole  day  long,  and  was  al* 


EVENING    ON    THE    CANAL.  23 

ways  foremost  in  the  everlasting  refrain  of  "  haylee-sah  !  "  and 
"i/a  salaam!''''  with  which  the  Egyptian  sailors  row  and  tow 
and  pole  their  boats  against  the  current.  Before  we  left  the 
boat  we  had  acquired  a  kind  of  affection  for  these  three  men, 
while  the  rais,  with  his  grim  face  and  croaking  voice,  grew  more 
repulsive  every  day. 

We  spread  a  mat  on  the  deck,  lighted  our  lantern  and  sat 
down  to  supper,  while  a  gentle  north  wind  slowly  carried  our 
boat  along  through  shadows  of  palms  and  clear  spaces  of  moon- 
light. Ibrahim  filled  the  shebooks,  and  for  four  hours  we  sat 
in  the  open  air,  which  seemed  to  grow  sweeter  and  purer  with 
every  breath  we  inhaled.  We  were  a  triad — the  sacred  num- 
ber— and  it  would  have  been  diflficult  to  find  another  triad  so 
harmonious  md  yet  differing  so  strongly  in  its  parts.  One 
was  a  Landwirtli  from  Saxe-Coburg,  a  man  of  forty-five,  tall, 
yet  portly  in  person,  and  accustomed  to  the  most  comfortable 
living  and  the  best  society  in  Germany.  Another  was  a  Smyr- 
niote  merchant,  a  young  man  of  thirty,  to  whom  all  parts  of 
Europe  were  familiar,  who  spoke  eight  languages,  and  who 
within  four  months  had  visited  Ispahan  and  the  Caucasus.  Of 
the  third  it  behooves  me  not  to  speak,  save  that  he  was  from 
the  New  World,  and  that  he  differed  entirely  from  his  friends 
in  stature,  features,  station  in  life,  and  every  thing  else  but  mu- 
tual goodfellowship.  "  Ah,"  said  the  German  in  the  fulness 
of  his  heart,  as  we  basked  in  the  moonlight,  '•  what  a  heavenly 
air !  what  beautiful  palms  !  and  this  wonderful  repose  in  all 
Nature,  which  I  never  felt  before  !"  "  It  is  better  than  the 
gardens  of  Ispahan,"  added  the  Smyrniote.  Nor  did  I  deceive 
them  when  I  said  that  for  many  months  past  I  had  known  no 
mood  of  mind  so  peaceful  and  grateful. 


24  JOURNEY    IN    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

^  "We  rose  somewhat  stiff  from  our  hard  beds,  but  a  cup  of 
coffee  and  the  fresh  morning  air  restored  the  amenity  of  the 
voyage.  The  banks  of  the  Canal  are  flat  and  dull,  and  the 
country  through  which  we  passed,  after  leaving  the  marshy 
brink  of  Lake  Mareotis,  was  in  many  places  still  too  wet  from 
the  recent  inundation  to  be  ploughed  for  the  winter  crops.  It  is 
a  dead  level  of  rich  black  loam,  and  produces  rice,  maize,  sugarr 
cane  and  millet.  Here  and  there  the  sand  has  blown  over  it, 
and  large  spaces  are  given  up  to  a  sort  of  coarse,  wiry  grass. 
The  villages  are  miserable  collections  of  mud  huts,  but  the 
date-palms  which  shadow  them  and  the  strings  of  camels  that 
slowly  pass  to  and  fro,  render  even  their  unsightliness  pictu 
resque.  In  two  or  three  places  we  passed  mud  machines,  driven 
by  steam,  for  the  purpose  of  cleaning  the  Canal.  Kopes  were 
stretched  across  the  channel  on  both  sides,  and  a  large  number 
of  trading  boats  were  obliged  to  halt,  although  the  wind  was 
very  favorable.  The  barrier  was  withdrawn  for  us  Franks,  and 
the  courteous  engineer  touched  his  tarboosh  in  reply  to  our 
salutations,  as  we  shot  through. 

Towards  noon  we  stopped  at  a  village,  and  the  Asian  went 
ashore  with  Ibrahim  to  buy  provisions,  while  the  European 
walked  ahead  with  his  fowling-piece,  to  shoot  wild  ducks  for 
dinner.  The  American  stayed  on  board  and  studied  an  Arabic 
vocabulary.  Presently  Ibrahim  appeared  with  two  fowls,  two 
pigeons,  a  pot  of  milk  and  a  dozen  eggs.  The  Asian  set  about 
preparing  breakfast,  and  showed  himself  so  skilful  that  our 
bark  soon  exhaled  the  most  savory  odors.  When  we  picked 
up  our  European  he  had  only  two  hawks  to  offer  us,  but  we 
gave  him  in  return  a  breakfast  which  he  declared  perfect.  We 
ate  on  deck,  seated  on  a  mat ;  a  pleasant  wind  filled  our  sails. 


ATFEH.  26 

and  myriads  of  swallows  circled  and  twittered  over  our  heads 
in  the  cloudless  air.  The  calm,  contemplative  state  produced 
by  the  coffee  and  pipes  which  Ibrahim  brought  us,  lasted  the 
whole  afternoon,  and  the  villages,  the  cane-fields,  the  Moslem 
oratories,  the  wide  level  of  the  Delta  and  the  distant  mounds 
of  forgotten  cities,  passed  before  our  eyes  like  the  pictures  of 
a  dream.  Only  one  of  these  pictures  marred  the  serenity  of 
our  minds.  It  was  an  Arab  burying-ground,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Canal — a.  collection  of  heaps  of  mud,  baked  in  the  sun. 
At  the  head  and  foot  of  one  of  the  most  recent,  sat  two  wo- 
men— ^paid  mourners — who  howled  and  sobbed,  in  long,  piteous, 
despairing  cries,  which  were  most  painful  to  hear.  I  should 
never  have  imagined  that  any  thing  but  the  keenest  grief  could 
teach  such  heart-breaking  sounds. 

When  I  climbed  the  bank  at  sunset,  for  a  walk,  the  minarets 
of  Atfeh,  on  the  Nile,  were  visible.  Two  rows  of  acacias, 
planted  along  the  Canal,  formed  a  pleasant  arcade,  through 
which  we  sailed,  to  the  muddy  excrescences  of  the  town.  The 
locks  were  closed  for  the  night,  and  we  were  obliged  to  halt, 
which  gave  us  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  an  Arabic  marriage 
procession.  The  noise  of  two  wooden  drums  and  a  sort  of  fife 
announced  the  approach  of  the  bride,  who,  attended  by  her 
relatives,  came  down  the  bank  from  the  mud-ovens  above.  She 
was  closely  veiled,  but  the  Arabs  crowded  around  to  get  a  peep 
at  her  face.  No  sooner  had  the  three  Franks  approached,  than 
she  was  doubly  guarded  and  hurried  off  to  the  house  of  her  in- 
tended husband.  Some  time  afterwards  I  ascended  the  bank 
to  have  a  nearer  view  of  the  miserable  hovels,  but  was  received 
with  such  outcries  and  menacing  gestures,  that  I  made  a  slow 
and  dignified  retreat.  We  visited,  however,  the  house  of  the 
2 


26  JOURNEY   IN    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

bridegroom's  father,  where  twenty  or  thirty  Arabs,  seated  on 
the  ground,  were  singing  an  epithalainium,  to  which  they  kept 
time  by  clapping  their  hands. 

Next  morning,  while  our  rais  was  getting  his  permit  to  pass 
the  locks  (for  which  four  official  signatures  and  a  fee  of  thirty 
piastres  are  necessary),  we  visited  the  bazaar,  and  purchased 
long  tubes  of  jasmine-wood  for  our  pipes,  and  vegetables  for 
our  kitchen.  On  all  such  occasions  we  detailed  Seyd,  the  tall 
Nubian,  whose  ebony  face  shone  resplendent  under  a  snow-white 
turban,  to  be  our  attendant.  The  stately  gravity  with  which 
he  walked  behind  us,  carrying  bread  and  vegetables,  was  wor- 
thy the  pipe-bearer  of  a  Sultan.  By  this  time  we  had  installed 
the  Asian  as  cook,  and  he  very  cheerfully  undertook  the  service. 
We  soon  discovered  that  the  skill  of  Ibrahim  extended  no  fur- 
ther than  to  the  making  of  2i  pilaff  and  the  preparation  of  coffee. 
Moreover  his  habits  and  appearance  were  not  calculated  to  make 
us  relish  his  handiwork.  The  naivete  with  which  he  took  the 
wash-basin  to  make  soup  in,  and  wiped  our  knives  and  forks  on 
his  own  baggy  pantaloons,  would  have  been  very  amusing  if  we 
had  not  been  interested  parties.  The  Asian  was  one  day 
crumbling  some  loaf  sugar  with  a  hammer,  when  Ibrahim,  who 
had  been  watching  him,  suddenly  exclaimed  in  a  tone  of  min- 
gled pity  and  contempt,  "  that's  not  the  way  !  "  Thereupon  he 
took  up  some  of  the  lumps,  and  wrapped  them  in  one  corner  of 
his  long  white  shirt,  which  he  thrust  into  his  mouth,  and  after 
srushing  the  sugar  between  his  teeth,  emptied  it  into  the  bowl 
with  an  air  of  triumph. 

A  whole  squadron  of  boats  was  waiting  at  the  locks,  but 
with  Frankish  impudence,  we  pushed  through  them,  and  took 
»up  place  in  the  front  rank.     The  sun  was  intensely  hot,  and 


ENTRANCE    INTO    THE    NILE.  2? 

we  sweated  and  broiled  for  a  full  hour,  in  the  midst  of  a  hor- 
rible tumult  of  Arabs,  before  the  clumsy  officers  closed  the  last 
gate  on  us  and  let  us  float  forth  on  the  Nile.  It  is  the  west- 
em,  or  Canopic  branch  of  the  river  which  flows  past  Atfeh.  It 
is  not  broader  than  the  Hudson  at  Albany,  but  was  more  mud- 
dy and  slimy  from  its  recent  overflow  than  the  Mississippi  at 
New  Orleans.  Its  water  is  no  less  sweet  and  wholesome  than 
that  of  the  latter  river.  After  leaving  the  monotonous  banks 
of  the  Canal,  the  aspect  of  its  shores,  fringed  with  groves  of 
palm,  was  unspeakably  cheerful  and  inspiring.  On  the  opposite 
side,  the  slender  white  minarets  of  Fooah,  once  a  rich  manu- 
facturing town,  sparkled  in  the  noonday  sun.  A  fresh  north 
wind  from  the  Mediterranean  slowly  pressed  our  boat  against 
the  strong  current,  while  the  heavily-laden  merchant  vessels 
followed  in  our  wake,  their  two  immense  lateen  sails  expanded 
like  the  wings  of  the  Arabian  roc.  We  drank  to  the  glory  of 
old  Father  Nile  in  a  cup  of  his  own  brown  current,  and  then 
called  Ibrahim  to  replenish  the  empty  shebooks.  Those  who 
object  to  tobacco  under  the  form  of  cigars,  or  are  nauseated  by 
the  fumes  of  a  German  meerschaum,  should  be  told  that  the 
Turkish  pipe,  filled  with  Latakieh,  is  quite  another  thing.  The 
aroma,  which  you  inhale  through  a  long  jasmine  tube,  topped 
with  a  soft  amber  mouth-piece,  is  as  fragrant  as  roses  and  re- 
freshing as  ripe  dates.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  atmosphere 
of  celestial  musk  and  amber  which  surrounded  Mahomet,  ac- 
cording to  the  Persian  Chronicles,  was  none  other  than  genuine 
Latakieh,  at  twenty  piastres  the  oka.  One  thing  is  certain, 
that  without  the  capacity  to  smoke  a  shebook,  no  one  can  taste 
the  true  flavor  of  the  Orient. 

An  hour  or  two  after  sunset  the  wind  fell,  and  for  the  rest 


28  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRIC  I. 

of  the  night  our  men  tracked  the  boat  slowly  forward,  smging 
cheerily  as  they  tugged  at  the  long  tow-rope.  The  Asian 
spread  on  the  deck  his  Albanian  capote,  the  European  his  am- 
ple travelling  cloak,  and  the  representatives  of  three  Conti- 
nents, travelling  in  the  fourth,  lay  on  their  backs  enjoying  the 
moonlight,  the  palms,  and  more  than  all,  the  perfect  silence  and 
repose.  With  every  day  of  our  journey  I  felt  more  deeply  and 
gratefully  this  sense  of  rest.  Under  such  a  glorious  sky,  no 
disturbance  seemed  possible.  It  was  of  little  consequence 
whether  the  boat  went  forward  or  backward,  whether  we  struck 
on  a  sand-bar  or  ploughed  the  water  under  a  full  head  of  wind; 
every  thing  was  right.  My  conscience  made  me  no  reproach  for 
such  a  lazy  life.  In  America  we  live  too  fast  and  work  too 
hard,  I  thought :  shall  I  not  know  what  Rest  is,  once  before  I 
die  ?  The  European  said  to  me  naively,  one  day :  "  I  am  a 
little  surprised,  but  very  glad,  that  no  one  of  us  has  yet  spoken 
of  European  politics."  Europe  !  I  had  forgotten  that  such  a 
land  existed :  and  as  for  America,  it  seemed  very  dim  and 
distant. 

Sometimes  I  varied  this  repose  by  trying  to  pick  up  the 
language.  "Wilkinson's  Vocabulary  and  Capt.  Hayes's  Gram- 
mar did  me  great  service,  and  after  I  had  tried  a  number  of 
words  with  Ibrahim,  to  get  the  pronunciation,  I  made  bolder 
essays.  One  day  when  the  sailors  were  engaged  in  a  most 
vociferous  discussion,  I  broke  upon  them  with  :  "  What  is  all 
this  noise  about  ?  stop  instantly ! "  The  effect  was  instantane- 
ous ;  the  men  were  silent,  and  Seyd,  turning  up  his  eyes  in 
wonder,  cried  out :  ^^  Wallah !  the  Howadji  talks  Arabic!" 
The  two  copper-faced  Fellahs  thought  it  very  amusing,  and 
every  new  word  I  learned  sufficed  to  set  them  laughing  for  half 


SCENERY    OF    THE    DELTA.  29 

an  hour,  I  called  out  to  a  fisherman,  seated  on  the  bank:  "  0 
Fisherman,  have  you  any  fish  ?  "  and  he  held  up  a  string  of 
them  and  made  answer  :  "  0  Howadji,  I  have."  This  solemn 
form  of  address,  which  is  universal  in  Arabic,  makes  the  lan- 
guage very  piquant  to  a  student. 

During  our  second  night  on  the  river,  we  passed  the  site 
of  ancient  Sais,  one  of  the  most  renowned  of  Egyptian  cities, 
which  has  left  nothing  but  a  few  shapeless  mounds.  The  coun- 
try was  in  many  places  still  wet  from  the  inundation,  which 
was  the  largest  that  had  occurred  for  many  years.  The  Fel- 
vahs  were  ploughing  for  wheat,  with  a  single  bufialo  geared  to  a 
sharp  pole,  which  scratched  up  the  soil  to  the  depth  of  three 
inches.  Fields  of  maize  and  sugar-cane  were  frequent,  and  I 
noticed  also  some  plantations  of  tobacco,  millet,  and  a  species 
of  lupin,  which  is  cultivated  for  its  beans.  The  only  vegetables 
we  found  for  sale  in  the  villages,  were  onions,  leeks  and  toma- 
toes. Milk,  butter  and  eggs  are  abundant  and  very  good,  but 
the  cheese  of  the  country  is  detestable.  The  habitations  resem- 
ble ant-hills,  rather  than  human  dwellings,  and  the  villages  are 
depots  of  tilth  and  vermin,  on  the  most  magnificent  scale.  Our 
boat  was  fortunately  free  from  the  latter,  except  a  few  cock- 
roaches. Except  the  palm  and  acacia,  without  which  a  Nile 
journey  would  lose  half  its  attractions,  I  saw  few  trees.  Here 
and  there  stood  a  group  of  superb  plane-trees,  and  the  banana 
sometimes  appeared  in  the  gardens,  but  there  is  nothing  of  that 
marvellous  luxuriance  and  variety  of  vegetation  which  is  else- 
where exhibited  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Tropics. 

On  the  evening  of  the  third  day  we  reached  the  town  of 
Nadir,  and,  as  there  was  no  wind,  went  ashore  for  an  hour  oi 
two.     There  was  a  cafe  on  the  bank — a  mud  house,  with  two 


30  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

windows,  adorned  with  wooden  frames,  carved  in  the  Moorish 
Style.  A  divan,  huilt  of  clay  and  whitewashed,  extended  along 
one  side  of  the  room,  and  on  this  we  seated  ourselves  cross-leg- 
ged, while  the  host  prepared  the  little  coffee-cups  and  filled  the 
pipes.  Through  the  open  door  we  saw  the  Nile,  gleaming 
broadly  under  the  full  moon,  and  in  the  distance,  two  tall  palm- 
trees  stood  clearly  against  the  sky.  Our  boatmen,  whom  we 
had  treated  to  hooza,  the  Egyptian  beer,  sat  before  us,  and 
joined  in  the  chorus  of  a  song,  which  was  sung  to  entertain  us. 
The  performers  were  three  women,  and  a  man  who  played  a 
3oarse  reed  flute.  One  of  the  women  had  a  tambourine,  another 
I  small  wooden  drum,  and  the  third  kept  time  by  slapping  the 
closed  fingers  of  the  right  hand  on  the  palm  of  the  left.  The 
song,  which  had  a  wild,  rude  harmony  that  pleased  me,  was 
followed  by  a  dance,  executed  by  one  of  the  women.  It  was 
very  similar  to  the  fandango,  as  danced  by  the  natives  of  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  was  more  lascivious  than  graceful. 
The  women,  however,  were  of  the  lowest  class,  and  their  per- 
formances were  adapted  to  the  taste  of  the  boatmen  and  camel- 
drivers,  by  whom  they  are  patronized. 

The  next  day  the  yellow  hills  of  the  Libyan  Desert,  which 
in  some  places  press  the  arable  land  of  the  Delta  even  to  the 
brink  of  the  Nile,  appeared  in  the  west.  The  sand  appeared 
to  be  steadily  advancing  towards  the  river,  and  near  Werdan 
had  already  buried  a  grove  of  acacias  as  high  as  their  first 
branches.  The  tops  were  green  and  flourishing  above  the 
deluge,  but  another  year  or  two  would  overwhelm  them  com- 
pletely. We  had  a  thick  fog  during  the  night,  and  the  follow- 
ing day  was  exceedingly  hot  though  the  air  was  transparent  as 
crystal.     Our  three  faces  were  already  of  the  color  of  new 


m 

THE    BARRAGE.  31 

bronze,  which  was  burned  into  the  skin  by  the  reflection  from 
the  water.  While  my  friends  were  enjoying  their  usual  after- 
noon repose,  a  secret  presentiment  made  me  climb  to  the  roof 
of  our  cabin.  I  had  not  sat  there  long,  before  I  descried  two 
faint  blue  triangles  on  the  horizon,  far  to  the  south.  I  rudely 
broke  in  upon  their  indolence  with  a  shout  of  "the  Pyra- 
mids I  "  which  Seyd  echoed  with  "  El-hdram  Faraoon  I "  I 
was  as  much  impressed  with  the  view  as  I  expected  to  be,  but 
I  completely  nullified  the  European's  emotion  by  translating 
to  him  Thackeray's  description  of  his  first  sight  of  those  re- 
nowned monuments. 

The  same  evening  we  reached  the  northern  point  of  the 
Delta,  where  we  were  obliged  to  remain  all  night,  as  the  wind 
was  not  sufficiently  strong  to  allow  us  to  pass  the  Barrage 
Singularly  enough,  this  immense  work,  which  is  among  the 
greatest  undertakings  of  modem  times,  is  scarcely  heard  of  out 
of  Egypt.  It  is  nothing  less  than  a  damming  of  the  Nile, 
which  is  to  have  the  effect  of  producing  two  inundations  a 
year,  and  doubling  the  crops  throughout  the  Delta.  Here, 
where  the  flood  divides  itself  into  two  main  branches,  which 
find  separate  mouths  at  Damietta  and  Rosetta,  an  immense 
dam  has  not  only  been  projected,  but  is  far  advanced  toward 
completion.  Each  branch  will  be  spanned  by  sixty-two  arches, 
besides  a  central  gateway  ninety  feet  in  breadth,  and  flanked 
by  lofty  stone  towers.  The  point  of  the  Delta,  between  the 
two  dams,  is  protected  by  a  curtain  of  solid  masonry,  and  the 
abutments  which  it  joins  are  fortified  by  towers  sixty  or  seven- 
■y  feet  in  height.  The  piers  have  curved  breakwaters  on  the 
upper  side,  while  the  opposite  parapet  of  the  arches  rises  high 
above  them,  so  that  the  dam  consists  of  three  successive  ter- 


82  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

races,  and  presents  itself  like  a  wedge,  against  the  force  oi 
such  an  immense  body  of  water.  The  material  is  brick,  faced 
with  ^tone.  When  complete,  it  is  intended  to  close  the  side- 
arches  during  low  water,  leaving  only  the  central  gateway 
open,  .  By  this  means  sufficient  water  will  be  gained  to  fill  all 
the  irrigating  canals,  while  a  new  channel,  cut  through  the 
centre  of  the  Delta,  will  render  productive  a  vast  tract  of  fer- 
tile land.  The  project  is  a  grand  one,  and  the  only  obstacle 
to  its  success  is  the  light,  porous  character  of  the  alluvial 
soil  on  which  the  piers  are  founded.  The  undertaking  was 
planned  and  commenced  by  M.  Linant,  and  has  since  been 
continued  by  other  engineers. 

The  Egyptian  boatmen  have  reason  to  complain  of  the 
Barrage.  The  main  force  of  the  river  is  poured  through  the 
narrow  space  wherein  the  piers  have  not  yet  been  sunk,  which 
cannot  be  passed  without  a  strong  north  wind.  Forty  or  fifty 
boats  were  lying  along  the  shore,  waiting  the  favorable  mo- 
ment. We  obtained  permission  from  the  engineer  to  attach 
our  boat  to  a  large  government  barge,  which  was  to  be  drawn 
up  by  a  stationary  windlass.  As  we  put  off,  the  wind  freshen- 
ed, and  we  were  slowly  urged  against  the  current  to  the  main 
rapid,  where  we  were  obliged  to  hold  on  to  our  big  friend. 
Behind  us  the  river  was  white  with  sails — craft  of  all  kinds, 
pushed  up  by  the  wind,  dragged  down  by  the  water,  striking 
against  each  other,  entangling  their  long  sails  and  crowding 
into  the  narrow  passage,  amid  shouts,  cries  and  a  bewildering 
profusion  of  Arabic  gutturals.  For  half  an  hour,  the  scene  was 
most  exciting,  but  thanks  to  the  windlass,  we  reached  smoother 
water,  and  sailed  off  gayly  for  Cairo. 

The  true  Nile  expanded  before  us,  nearly  two  miles  in 


"VTE  REACH  BOULAK.  33 

width.  To  the  south,  the  three  Pyramids  of  Gizeh  loomed 
up  like  isolated  mountain-peaks  on  the  verge  of  the  Desert. 
On  the  right  hand  the  Mokattam  Hills  lay  red  and  bare  in 
the  sunshine,  and  ere  long,  over  the  distant  gardens  of  Shoo- 
bra,  we  caught  sight  of  the  Citadel  of  Cairo,  and  the  minarets 
of  the  mosque  of  Sultan  Hassan.  The  north  wind  was  faith- 
ful :  at  three  o'clock  we  were  anchored  in  Boulak,  paid  our 
rais,  gave  the  crew  a  backsheesh,  for  which  they  kissed  our 
hands  with  many  exclamations  of  "  taih  I ''  (good  I)  and  set 
oat  for  Cairo. 


34  JOUHNET  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICX. 


CHAPTER    III. 

PICTURES      OFCAIRO. 

Entrance— The  Ezbeklyeh— Saracenic  Ilouses— Donkeys— The  Bazaars— The  Streets 
— Processions — ^Yiew  from  the  Citadel — Mosque  of  Mohammed  All— The  Eoad  to 
Suez— The  Island  of  Rhoda. 

Our  approach  to  and  entrance  into  Cairo  was  the  illuminated 
frontispiece  to  the  volume  of  my  Eastern  life.  From  the  Nile 
we  had  already  seen  the  mosque  of  Sultan  Hassan,  the  white 
domes,  and  long,  pencil-like  minarets  of  the  new  mosque  of 
Mohammed  Ali,  and  the  massive  masonry  of  the  Citadel^ 
crowning  a  projecting  spur  of  the  Mokattam  Hills,  which 
touches  the  city  on  the  eastern  side.  But  when,  mounted 
on  ambling  donkeys,  we  followed  the  laden  baggage-horses 
through  the  streets  of  Boulak,  and  entered  the  broad,  shaded 
highway  leading  through  gardens,  grain-fields  and  groves  of 
palm  and  banana,  to  the  gate  of  the  Ezhehiyeh — the  great 
square  of  Cairo — the  scene,  which,  at  a  distance,  had  been 
dimmed  and  softened  by  the  filmy  screen  of  the  Egyptian  air, 
now  became  so  gay,  picturesque  and  animated,  so  full  of  life 
and  motion  and  color,  that  my  dreams  of  the  East  were  at 
once  displaced  by  the  vivid  reality.  The  donkey-riding  multi- 
tudes who  passed  continually  to  and  fro,  were  wholly  unlike 


THE    GREAT   SQUARE    OF    CAIRO.  2t 

fcbe  crowds  of  Smyrna  and  Alexandria,  where  the  growing  in- 
fluence of  European  dress  and  customs  is  already  visible. 
Here,  every  thing  still  exhaled  the  rich  aroma  of  the  Orient, 
as  it  had  been  wafted  to  me  from  the  Thousand  and  One 
Nights,  the  Persian  poets  and  the  Arab  chroniclers.  I  forgot 
that  I  still  wore  a  Frank  dress,  and  found  myself  wondering  at 
the  temerity  of  the  few  Europeans  we  met.  I  looked  without 
surprise  on  the  long  processions  of  donkeys  carrying  water- 
skins,  the  heavily-laden  camels,  the  women  with  white  masks 
on  their  faces  and  black  bags  around  their  bodies,  the  stolid 
Nubian  slares,  the  grave  Abyssinians,  and  all  the  other  va- 
rious characters  that  passed  and  repassed  us.  But  because 
they  were  so  familiar,  they  were  none  the  less  interesting,  for 
all  had  been  acquaintances,  when,  like  Tennyson,  "  true  Mus- 
sulman was  I,  and  sworn,"  under  the  reign  of  the  good  Haroun 
Al-Raschid. 

We  entered  the  Ezbekiyeh,  which  is  wholly  overgrown  with 
majestic  acacias  and  plane-trees,  and  thickets  of  aromatic  flow- 
ering shrubs.  It  is  in  the  Frank  quarter  of  the  city,  and  was 
first  laid  out  and  planted  by  order  of  Mohammed  All  All  the 
principal  hotels  front  upon  it,  and  light,  thatched  cafes  fill  the 
space  under  the  plane-trees,  where  the  beau  monde  of  Cairo 
promenade  every  Sunday  evening.  Nothing  of  the  old  City  of 
the  Caliphs,  except  a  few  tall  minarets,  can  be  seen  from  this 
quarter,  but  the  bowery  luxuriance  of  the  foliage  is  all  that  the 
eye  demands,  and  over  the  plain  white  walls,  on  every  side, 
the  palms — single,  or  in  friendly  groups — ^lift  their  feathery 
crowns.  After  installing  our  household  gods  in  the  chambers 
of  the  quiet  and  comfortable  Hotel  d'Europe,  we  went  out  to 
enjoy  the  sweet  evening  air  in  front  of  one  of  the  cafes.      I 


86  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

tried  foi  the  first  time  the  narghileh,  or  Persian  water-pipe 
The  soft,  velvety  leaves  of  the  tobacco  of  Shiraz  are  burned  in 
a  small  cup,  the  tube  of  which  enters  a  glass  vase,  half  filled 
with  rose-scented  water.  From  the  top  of  this  vase  issues  a 
fiexible  tube,  several  feet  in  length,  with  a  mouth-piece  of  wood 
or  amber.  At  each  inspiration,  the  smoke  is  drawn  downward 
and  rises  through  the  water  with  a  pleasant  bubbling  sound.  It 
is  deprived  of  all  the  essential  oil  of  the  weed,  and  is  exceed 
ingly  mild,  cool  and  fragrant.  But  instead  of  being  puflfed  out 
of  the  mouth  in  whiffs,  it  is  breathed  full  into  the  lungs  and 
out  again,  like  the  common  air.  This  is  not  so  difl&cult  a  mat- 
ter as  might  be  supposed ;  the  sensation  is  pleasant  and  slight- 
ly exhilarating,  and  is  not  injurious  to  the  lungs  when  moder- 
ately iixdulged  in.      , 

The  Turkish  quarter  of  Cairo  still  retains  the  picturesque 
Saracenic  architecture  of  the  times  of  the  Caliphs.  The 
houses  are  mostly  three  stories  in  height,  each  story  projecting 
over  the  other,  and  the  plain  stone  walls  are  either  whitewash- 
ed or  striped  with  horizontal  red  bars,  in  a  manner  which  TYOuld 
be  absurd  under  a  northern  sky,  but  which  is  here  singularly 
harmonious  and  agreeable.  The  only  signs  of  sculpture  are 
occasional  door-ways  with  richly  carved  arches,  or  the  light 
marble  gallery  surrounding  a  foimtained  court.  I  saw  a  few 
of  these  in  retired  parts  of  the  city.  The  traveller,  however, 
has  an  exhaustless  source  of  delight  in  the  wooden  balconies 
inclosing  the  upper  windows.  The  extraordinary  lightness, 
grace  and  delicate  fragility  of  their  workmanship,  rendered  still 
more  striking  by  contrast  with  the  naked  solidity  of  the  walls 
to  which  they  cling,  gave  me  a  new  idea  of  the  skill  and  fancy 
of  the  Saracenic  architects,     The  wood  seems  rather  woven  in 


DONKEYS    AND    DONKEY-BOYS.  87 

the  loom,  than  cut  with  the  saw  and  chisel  Through  these 
lattices  of  fine  network,  with  borders  worked  in  lace-like  pat- 
terns, and  sometimes  topped  with  slender  turrets  and  pinnacles, 
the  wives  of  the  Cairene  merchants  sit  and  watch  the  crowds 
passing  softly  to  and  fro  in  the  twilight  of  the  bazaars,  them- 
selves unseen.  It  needed  no  effort  of  the  imagination  to  people 
the  fairy  watch-towers  under  which  we  rode  daily,  with  forms 
as  beautiful  as  those  which  live  in  the  voluptuous  melodies  of 
Hafiz. 

To  see  Cairo  thoroughly,  one  must  first  accustom  himself 
to  the  ways  of  those  long-eared  cabs,  without  the  use  of  which 
I  would  advise  no  one  to  trust  himself  in  the  bazaars.  Don- 
key-riding is  universal,  and  no  one  thinks  of  going  beyond  the 
Frank  quarter  on  foot.  If  he  does,  he  must  submit  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  not  less  than  six  donkeys  with  their  drivers.  A 
friend  of  mine,  who  was  attended  by  such  a  cavalcade  for  two 
hours,  was  obliged  to  yield  at  last,  and  made  no  second  attempt. 
When  we  first  appeared  in  the  gateway  of  our  hotel,  equipped 
for  an  excursion,  the  rush  of  men  and  animals  was  so  great, 
that  we  were  forced  to  retreat  until  our  servant  and  the  porter 
whipped  as  a  path  through  the  yelling  and  braying  mob.  Af- 
ter one  or  two  trials,  I  found  an  intelligent  Arab  boy,  named 
Kish,  who,  for  five  piastres  a  day,  furnished  strong  and  ambi- 
tious donkeys,  which  he  kept  ready  at  the  door  from  morning 
till  night.  The  other  drivers  respected  Kish's  privilege,  and 
thenceforth  I  had  no  trouble.  The  donkeys  are  so  small  that 
my  feet  nearly  touched  the  ground,  but  there  is  no  end  to  their 
strength  and  endurance.  Their  gait,  whether  a  pace  or  a  gal- 
lop, is  so  easy  and  light  that  fatigue  is  impossible.  The  dri- 
vers take  great  pride  in  having  high-cushioned  red  saddles,  and 


88  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

in  hanging  bits  of  jingling  brass  to  the  bridles.  They  keep 
their  donkeys  close  shorn,  and  frequently  beautify  them  by 
painting  them  various  colors.  The  first  animal  I  rode  had  legs 
barred  like  a  zebra's,  and  my  friend's  rejoiced  in  purple  flanks 
and  a  yellow  belly.  The  drivers  run  behind  them  with  a  short 
stick,  punching  them  from  time  to  time,  or  giving  them  a  sharp 
pinch  on  the  rump.  Yery  few  of  them  own  their  donkeys,  and 
I  understood  their  pertinacity  when  I  learned  that  they  fre- 
quently received  a  beating  on  returning  home  in  the  evening 
empty-handed. 

The  passage  of  the  bazaars  seems  at  first  quite  as  hazardous 
on  donkey-back  as  on  foot,  but  it  is  the  difference  between  knock- 
ing somebody  down  and  being  knocked  down  yourself,  and  one 
naturally  prefers  the  former  alternative.  There  is  no  use  in 
attempting  to  guide  the  donkey,  for  he  won't  be  guided.  The 
driver  shouts  behind,  and  you  are  dashed  at  full  speed  into  a 
confusion  of  other  donkeys,  camels,  horses,  carts,  water-car- 
riers and  footmen.  In  vain  you  cry  out :  "  Bess  /"  (enough !) 
"  Piano  !  "  and  other  desperate  adjurations ;  the  driver's  only 
reply  is :  "  Let  the  bridle  hang  loose  !  "  You  dodge  your 
head  under  a  camel-load  of  planks ;  your  leg  brushes  the  wheel 
of  a  dust-cart ;  you  strike  a  fat  Turk  plump  in  the  back ;  you 
miraculously  escape  upsetting  a  fruit-stand ;  you  scatter  a  com- 
pany of  spectral,  white-masked  women,  and  at  last  reach  some 
more  quiet  street,  with  the  sensation  of  a  man  who  has  stormed 
a  battery.  At  first  this  sort  of  riding  made  me  very  nervous, 
but  finally  I  let  the  donkey  go  his  own  way,  and  took  a  curious 
interest  in  seeing  how  near  a  chance  I  ram  of  striking  or  being 
struck.  Sometimes  there  seemed  no  hope  of  avoiding  a  violent 
collision,  but  by  a  series  of  the  most  remarkable  dodges  he  gen- 


THE    POPULACE    OF    CAIRO.  89 

erally  carried  me  through  in  safety.  The  cries  of  the  driver 
running  behind,  gave  me  no  little  amusement :  "  The  Howadji 
comes !  Take  care  on  the  right  hand !  take  care  on  the  left 
hand  !  0  man,  take  care  !  0  maiden,  take  care  !  0  boy,  get 
out  of  the  way !  The  Howadji  comes  !  "  Kish  had  strong  lungs 
and  his  donkey  would  let  nothing  pass  him,  and  so,  wherever 
we  went,  we  contributed  our  full  share  to  the  universal  noise 
and  confusion. 

Cairo  is  the  cleanest  of  all  oriental  cities.  The  regulations 
established  by  Mohammed  Ali  are  strictly  carried  out.  Each 
man  is  obliged  to  sweep  before  his  own  door,  and  the  dirt  is 
carried  away  in  carts  every  morning.  Besides  this,  the  streets 
are  watered  several  times  a  day,  and  are  nearly  always  cool 
and  free  from  dust.  The  constant  evaporation  of  the  water, 
however,  is  said  to  be  injurious  to  the  eyes  of  the  inhabitants, 
though  in  other  respects  the  city  is  healthy.  The  quantity  of 
sore-eyed,  cross-eyed,  one-eyed,  and  totally  blind  persons  one 
meets  every  where,  is  surprising.  There  are  some  beggars, 
mostly  old  or  deformed,  but  by  no  means  so  abundant  or  imper^ 
tinent  as  in  the  Italian  cities.  A  number  of  shabby  police- 
men, in  blue  frock-coats  and  white  pantaloons,  parade  the  prin 
cipal  thoroughfares,  but  I  never  saw  their  services  called  into 
requisition.  The  soldiers,  who  wear  a  European  dress  of  white 
cotton,  are  by  far  the  most  awkward  and  unpicturesque  class. 
Even  the  Fellah,  whose  single  brown  garment  hangs  loose  from 
his  shoulders  to  his  knees,  has  an  air  of  dignity  compared  with 
these  Frankish  caricatures.  The  genuine  Eg3^tian  costume, 
which  bears  considerable  resemblance  to  the  Grreek,  and  espe 
cially  the  Hydriote,  is  simple  and  graceful.  The  colors  are 
dark — ^principally  brown,  blue,  green  and  violet — relieved  by  a 


*0  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

heavy  silk  sash  of  some  gay  pattern,  and  by  the  red  slippers 
and  tarboosh.  But,  as  in  Turkey,  the  Pashas  and  Beys,  and 
many  of  the  minor  officers  of  the  civil  departments  have  adopt- 
ed the  Frank  dress,  retaining  only  the  tarboosh, — a  change 
which  is  by  no  means  becoming  to  them.  I  went  into  an  Egyp- 
tian barber-shop  one  day,  to  have  my  hair  shorn,  and  en- 
joyed the  preparatory  pipe  and  coffee  in  company  with  two  in- 
dividuals, whom  I  supposed  to  be  French  or  Italians  of  the 
vulgar  order,  until  the  barber  combed  out  the  long  locks  on  the 
top  of  their  head,  by  which  Mussulmen  expect  to  be  lifted  up 
into  Paradise.  When  they  had  gone,  the  man  informed  me 
that  one  was  Khalim  Pasha,  one  of  the  grandsons  of  Moham- 
med Ali,  and  the  other  a  Bey,  of  considerable  notoriety.  The 
Egyptians  certainly  do  not  gain  any  thing  by  adopting  a  costume 
which,  in  this  climate,  is  neither  so  convenient  nor  so  agreeable 
as  their  own. 

Besides  the  animated  life  of  the  bazaars,  which  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  seeing,  in  making  my  outfit  for  the  winter's 
journey,  I  rarely  went  out  without  witnessing  some  incident  or 
ceremony  illustrative  of  Egyptian  character  and  customs.  One 
morning  I  encountered  a  stately  procession,  with  music  and 
banners,  accompanying  a  venerable  personage,  with  a  green  tur- 
ban on  his  head  and  a  long  white  beard  flowing  over  his  breast. 
This,  as  Kish  assured  me,  was  the  Shereef  of  Mecca.  He  was 
attended  by  officers  in  the  richest  Turkish  and  Egyptian  cos- 
tumes, mounted  on  splendid  Arabian  steeds,  who  were  almost 
hidden  under  their  broad  housings  of  green  and  crimson  velvet, 
embroidered  with  gold.  The  people  on  all  sides,  as  he  passed, 
laid  their  hands  on  their  breasts  and  bowed  low,  which  he  an- 
swered by  slowly  lifting  his  hand.  It  was  a  simple  motion,  but 
nothing  could  have  been  more  calm  and  majestic. 


FESTIVR    PROCESSIONS.  41 

On  another  occasion,  I  met  a  bridal  procession  in  the  streets 
of  Boulak.  Three  musicians,  playing  on  piercing  flutes,  head- 
ed the  inarch,  followed  by  the  parents  of  the  bride,  who,  sur- 
rounded by  her  maids,  walked  under  a  crimson  canopy.  She 
was  shrouded  from  head  to  foot  in  a  red  robe,  over  which  a 
gilded  diadem  was  fastened  around  her  head.  A  large  crowd 
vf  friends  and  relatives  closed  the  procession,  close  behind 
(vhich  followed  another,  of  very  different  character.  The  chief 
actors  were  four  boys,  of  five  w  six  years  old,  on  their  way  to 
be  circumcised.  Each  was  mounted  on  a  handsome  horse,  and 
wore  the  gala  garments  of  a  full-grown  man,  in  which  their  little 
bodies  were  entirely  lost.  The  proud  parents  marched  by  their 
sides,  supporting  them,  and  occasionally  holding  to  their  lips 
bottles  of  milk  and  sherbet.  One  was  a  jet  black  Nubian,  who 
seemed  particularly  delighted  with  his  situation,  and  grinned  on 
all  sides  as  he  passed  along.  This  procession  was  headed  by 
a  buffoon,  who  carried  a  laugh  with  him  which  opened  a  ready 
passage  through  the  crowd.  A  man  followed  balancing  on  his 
chin  a  long  pole  crowned  with  a  bunch  of  flowers.  He  came  to 
me  for  backsheesh.  His  success  brought  me  two  swordsmen 
out  of  the  procession,  who  cut  at  each  other  with  scimitars  and 
caught  the  blows  on  their  shields.  The  coolness,  swiftness  and 
skill  with  which  they  parried  the  strokes  was  really  admirable, 
and  the  concluding  flourish  was  a  masterpiece.  One  of  them, 
striking  with  the  full  sweep  of  his  arm,  aimed  directly  at  the 
face  of  the  other,  as  if  to  divide  his  head  into  two  parts  ;  but, 
without  making  a  pause,  the  glittering  weapon  turned,  and 
sliced  the  air  within  half  an  inch  of  his  eyes.  The  man  neither 
winked  nor  moved  a  muscle  of  his  face,  but  after  the  scimitai 
had  passed,  dashed  it  up  with  his  shield,  which  he  then  reversed, 


42  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

and  dropping  on  one  knee,  held  to  me  for  backsheesh.  After 
these  came  a  camel,  with  a  tuft  of  ostrich  feathers  on  his  head 
and  a  boy  on  his  back,  who  pounded  vigorously  on  two  wooden 
drums  with  one  hand,  while  he  stretched  the  other  down  to  me 
for  backsheesh.  Luckily  the  little  candidates  for  circumci- 
sion were  too  busily  engaged  with  their  milk  bottles  and  sugar- 
plums, to  join  in  the  universal  cry. 

I  had  little  time  to  devote  to  the  sights  of  Cairo,  and  was 
obliged  to  omit  the  excursions  to  the  Petrified  Forest,  to  Helio- 
polis  and  Old  Cairo,  until  my  return.  Besides  the  city  itself, 
which  was  always  full  of  interest,  I  saw  little  else  except  the 
Citadel  and  the  Island  of  Rhoda.  We  took  the  early  morning 
for  our  ride  to  the  former  place,  and  were  fortunate  enough  to 
find  our  view  of  the  Nile-plain  unobscured  by  the  mists  cus- 
tomary at  this  season.  The  morning  light  is  most  favorable  to 
the  landscape,  which  lies  wholly  to  the  westward.  The  shad- 
ows of  the  Citadel  and  the  crests  of  the  Mokattam  Hills  then 
lie  broad  and  cool  over  the  city,  but  do  not  touch  its  minarets, 
which  glitter  in  the  air  like  shafts  of  white  and  rosy  flame. 
The  populace  is  up  and  stirring,  and  you  can  hear  the  cries  of 
the  donkeymen  and  water-carriers  from  under  the  sycamores  and 
acacias  that  shade  the  road  to  Boulak.  Over  the  rich  palm- 
gardens,  the  blue  streak  of  the  river  and  the  plain  beyond,  you 
see  the  phantoms  of  two  pyramids  in  the  haze  which  still  cu 
tains  the  Libyan  Desert.  Northward,  beyond  the  parks  and 
palaces  of  Shoobra,  the  Nile  stretches  his  two  great  arms  to- 
ward the  sea,  dotted,  far  into  the  distance,  with  sails  that  flash 
in  the  sun.  From  no  other  point,  and  at  no  other  time,  is 
Cairo  so  grand  and  beautiful. 

Within  the  walls  of  the  Citadel  is  the  Bir  Youssef — Jo« 


THE    CITADEL.  43 

Beph's  Well — as  it  is  called  by  the  Arabs,  not  from  the  vir- 
tuous Hebrew,  but  from  Sultan  Saladin,  who  dug  it  out  and 
put  it  in  operation.  The  well  itself  dates  from  the  old  Egyp 
tian  time,  but  was  filled  with  sand  and  entirely  lost  for  many 
centuries.  It  consists  of  an  upper  and  lower  shaft,  cut  through 
the  solid  rock,  to  the  depth  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  feet.  A 
winding  gallery,  lighted  from  the  shaft,  extends  to  the  bottom 
of  the  first  division,  where,  in  a  chamber  cut  in  the  rock,  a 
mule  turns  the  large  wheel  which  brings  up  a  continual  string 
of  buckets  from  the  fountain  below.  The  water  is  poured  into 
a  spacious  basin,  and  carried  thence  to  the  top  by  another 
string  of  buckets  set  in  motion  at  the  surface.  Attended  by 
two  Arabs  with  torches,  we  made  the  descent  of  the  first  shaft 
and  took  a  drink  of  the  fresh,  cool  fluid.  This  well,  and  the 
spot  where  the  Mameluke  Emin  Bey  jumped  his  horse  over 
the  wall  and  escaped  the  massacre  of  his  comrades,  are  the 
only  interesting  historical  points  about  the  Citadel ;  and  th« 
new  mosque  of  Mohammed  Ali,  which  overlooks  the  city  from 
the  most  projecting  platform  of  the  fortifications,  is  the  only 
part  which  has  any  claim  to  architectural  beauty.  Although 
it  has  been  in  process  of  erection  for  many  years,  this  mosqu6 
is  not  nearly  completed  internally.  The  exterior  is  finished, 
and  its  large,  white,  depressed  dome,  flanked  by  minarets  so 
tall  and  reed-like  that  they  seem  ready  to  bend  with  every 
breeze,  is  the  first  signal  of  Cairo  to  travellers  coming  up  or 
down  the  Nile.  The  interior  walls  are  lined  throughout  with 
oriental  alabaster,  stained  with  the  orange  fiush  of  Egyptian 
sunsets,  and  the  three  domes  blaze  with  elaborate  arabesques 
of  green,  blue,  crimson  and  gold.  In  a  temporary  chamber, 
fitted  up  in  one  corner,  rests  the  coffin  of  Mohammed  Ali,  cov- 


44  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

ered  with  a  heavy  velvet  pall,  and  under  the  marble  arches  be* 
fore  it,  a  company  of  priests,  squatted  on  the  green  carpet  cov- 
ering the  floor,  bow  their  heads  continually  and  recite  prayers 
or  fragments  of  the  Koran. 

Before  descending  into  the  city,  I  rode  a  little  way  into 
the  Desert  to  the  tombs  of  the  Caliphs,  on  the  road  to  Suez. 
They  consist  mostly  of  stone  canopies  raised  on  pillars,  with 
mosques  or  oratories  attached  to  them,  exhibiting  considerable 
variety  in  their  design,  but  are  more  curious  than  impressive. 
The  track  in  the  sand  made  by  the  pilgrims  to  Mecca  and  the 
overland  passengers  to  Suez,  had  far  more  real  interest  in  my 
eyes.  The  pilgrims  are  fewer,  and  the  passengers  more  nu- 
merous, with  each  successive  year.  English-built  omnibuses, 
whirled  along  by  galloping  post-horses,  scatter  the  sand,  and 
in  the  midst  of  the  herbless  Desert,  the  travellers  regale  them- 
selves with  beefsteak  and  ale,  and  growl  if  the  accustomed 
Cheshire  is  fo'iad  wanting.  At  this  rate,  how  long  will  it  be 
before  there  is  a  telegraph-station  in  Mecca,  and  the  operator 
explodes  with  his  wire  a  cannon  on  the  Citadel  of  Cairo,  to 
announce  that  the  prayers  on  Mount  Arafat  have  commenced  ? 

The  Island  of  Rhoda,  which  I  visited  on  a  soft,  golden 
afternoon,  is  but  a  reminiscence  of  what  it  was  a  few  years 
ago.  Since  Ibrahim  Pasha's  death  it  has  been  wholly  neglect- 
ed, and  though  we  found  a  few  gardeners  at  work,  digging  up 
the  sodden  flower-beds  and  clipping  the  rank  myrtle  hedges, 
they  only  served  to  make  the  neglect  more  palpable.  During 
the  recent  inundation,  the  Nile  had  risen  to  within  a  few 
inches  of  covering  the  whole  island,  and  the  soil  was  still  soft 
and  clammy.  Nearly  all  the  growths  of  the  tropics  are  nur- 
tured here ;  the  coffee,  the  Indian  fig,  the  mango,  and  other 


RECORDS    OF    SILLINESS.  45 

trees  alternate  with  the  palm,  orange,  acacia,  and  the  yellow 
mimosa,  whose  blossoms  make  the  isle  fragrant.  I  gathered 
a  bunch  of  roses  and  jasmine-flowers  from  the  unpruned  vines. 
In  the  centre  of  the  garden  is  an  artificial  grotto  lined  with 
shells,  many  of  which  have  been  broken  off  and  carried  away 
by  ridiculous  tourists.  There  is  no  limit  to  human  silliness, 
as  I  have  wisely  concluded,  after  seeing  Pompey's  Pillar  dis- 
figured by  "  Isaac  Jones  "  (or  some  equally  classic  name),  in 
capitals  of  black  paint,  a  yard  long,  and  finding  "  Jenny  Lind ' 
equally  prominent  on  the  topmost  stone  of  the  great  Pyramid. 
(Of  course,  the  enthusiastic  artist  chiselled  his  own  name  be- 
side hers.)  A  mallet  and  chisel  are  often  to  be  found  in  the 
outfits  of  English  and  American  travellers,  and  to  judge  from' 
the  frequency  of  certain  names,  and  the  pains  bestowed  upon 
their  inscription,  the  owners  must  have  spent  the  most  of  their 
time  in  Upper  Egypt,  in  leaving  records  of  their  vulgar  vanity. 


46  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL   AFRICA. 


*. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  JOURNEY  INTO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

Necessity  of  Leaving  Immediately— Engaging  a  Boat— Tho  Dragomen— Achm^t  el 
Saidi— Funds— Information— Procuring  an  Outfit— Preparing  for  the  Desert—Tim 
Lucky  Day— Exertions  to  Leave — OS ! 

I  DEVOTED  but  little  time  to  seeing  Cairo,  for  the  travelling 
season  had  arrived,  and  a  speedy  departure  from  Cairo  was 
absolutely  necessary.  The  trip  to  Khartoum  occupies  at  least 
two  months  and  it  is  not  safe  to  remain  there  later  than  the 
first  of  March,  on  account  of  the  heat  and  the  rainy  season, 
which  is  very  unhealthy  for  strangers.  Dr.  Knoblecher,  the 
Catholic  Apostolic  Vicar  for  Central  Africa,  had  left  about  a 
month  previous,  on  his  expedition  to  the  sources  of  the  White 
Nile.  I  therefore  went  zealously  to  work,  and  in  five  days  my 
preparations  were  nearly  completed.  I  prevailed  upon  the 
European  of  our  triad,  who  had  intended  proceeding  no  further 
than  Cairo,  to  join  me  for  the  voyage  to  Assouan,  on  the  Nubi- 
an frontier,  and  our  first  care  was  to  engage  a  good  dahabiyeh, 
or  Nile-boat.  This  arrangement  gave  me  great  joy,  for  no- 
where is  a  congenial  comrade  so  desirable  as  on  the  Nile.  My 
friend  appreciated  the  river,  and  without  the  prospect  of  seeing 
Thebes,  Ombos  and  Philae,  would  have  cheerfully  borne  all 
the  inconveniences  and  delays  of  the  journey,  for  the  Nile's 


ENGAGING    A    BOAT.  47 

sake  alone.  Commend  me  to  such  a  man,  for  of  the  hundreds 
of  tourists  who  visit  the  East,  there  are  few  such  I  On  my  ar- 
rival, I  had  found  that  the  rumors  I  had  heard  on  the  road 
respecting  the  number  of  travellers  and  the  rise  in  the  price  of 
boats,  were  partially  true.  Not  more  than  a  dozen  boats  had 
left  for  Upper  Egypt,  but  the  price  had  been  raised  in  antici- 
pation. The  ship  carpenters  and  painters  were  busily  employ- 
ed all  along  the  shore  at  Boulak,  in  renovating  the  old  barks 
or  building  new  ones,  and  the  Beys  and  Pashas  who  owned  the 
craft  were  anticipating  a  good  harvest.  Some  travellers  paid 
forty-five  pounds  a  month  for  their  vessels,  but  I  found  little 
difficulty  in  getting  a  large  and  convenient  boat,  for  two  per- 
sons, at  twenty  pounds  a  month.  This  price,  it  should  be  un- 
derstood, includes  the  services  often  men,  who  find  their  own 
provisions,  and  only  receive  a  gratuity  in  case  of  good  behavior. 
The  American  Consul,  Mr.  Kahil,  had  kindly  obtained  for  me 
the  promise  of  a  bark  from  Ismail  Pasha,  before  our  arrival — 
a  superb  vessel,  furnished  with  beds,  tables,  chairs  and  divans, 
in  a  very  handsome  style — ^which  was  offered  at  thirty  pounds 
a  month,  but  it  was  much  larger  than  we  needed.  In  the 
course  of  my  inspection  of  the  fleet  of  barks  at  Boulak,  I  found 
several  which  might  be  had  at  fifteen,  and  seventeen  pounds 
a  month,  but  they  were  old,  inconvenient,  and  full  of  vermin. 
Our  boat,  which  I  named  the  Cleopatra,  had  been  newly  cleansed 
and  painted,  and  contained,  besides  a  spacious  cabin,  with 
beds  and  divans,  a  sort  of  portico  on  the  outside,  with  cush- 
ioned seats,  where  we  proposed  to  sit  during  the  balmy  twi- 
lights, and  smoke  our  shebooks. 

Without  a  tolerable  knowledge  of  Arabic,  a  dragoman  is 
indispensable.     The  few  phrases  I  had  picked  up,  on  the  way 


48  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

from  Alexandria,  availed  me  little,  and  wonld  have  been  use- 
less in  Nubia,  where  either  the  Berber!  language,  or  a  different 
Arabic  dialect  is  spoken ;  and  I  therefore  engaged  a  dragoman 
for  the  journey.  This  class  of  persons  always  swarm  in  Cairo, 
and  I  had  not  been  there  a  day  before  I  was  visited  by  half  a 
dozen,  who  were  anxious  to  make  the  trip  to  Khartoum.  How 
they  knew  I  was  going  there,  I  cannot  imagine ;  but  I  found 
that  they  knew  the  plans  of  every  traveller  in  Cairo  as  well. 
I  endeavored  to  find  one  who  had  already  made  the  journey, 
but  of  all  who  presented  themselves,  only  two  had  been  farther 
than  the  second  Cataract.  One  of  these  was  a  Nubian,  who 
had  made  a  trip  with  the  Sennaar  merchants,  as  far  as  Shendy, 
in  Ethiopia ;  but  he  had  a  sinister,  treacherous  face,  and  I  re- 
fused him  at  once.  The  other  was  an  old  man,  named  Suley- 
man  Ali,  who  had  been  for  three  years  a  servant  of  Champol- 
lion,  whose  certificate  of  his  faithfulness  and  honesty  he  pro- 
duced. 

He  had  been  three  years  in  Sennaar,  and  in  addition  to 
Italian,  (the  only  Frank  tongue  he  knew),  spoke  several 
Ethiopian  dialects.  He  was  a  fine,  venerable  figure,  with  an 
honest  face,  and  I  had  almost  decided  to  take  him,  when  I 
learned  that  he  was  in  feeble  health  and  would  scarcely  be  able 
to  endure  the  hardships  of  the  journey.  I  finally  made  choice 
of  a  dark  Egyptian,  born  in  the  valley  of  Thebes.  He  was  call- 
ed Achmet  el  Saidi,  or  Achmet  of  Upper  Egypt,  and  when  a  boy 
had  been  for  several  years  a  servant  in  the  house  of  the  Eng- 
lish Consul  at  Alexandria.  He  spoke  English  fluently,  as  well 
as  a  little  Italian  and  Turkish.  I  was  first  attracted  to  him  by 
his  bold,  manly  face,  and  finding  that  his  recommendations  were 
excellent,  and  that  he  had  sufficient  spirit,  courage  and  address 


OUTFIT FUNDS.  49 

to  serve  us  both  in  case  of  peril,  I  engaged  him,  notwithstand- 
ing he  had  never  travelled  beyond  Wadi  Haifa  (the  Second 
Cataract).  I  judged,  however,  that  I  was  quite  as  familiar 
with  the  geography  of  Central  Africa  as  any  dragoman  I  could 
procure,  and  that,  in  any  case,  I  should  find  it  best  to  form  my 
own  plans  and  choose  my  own  paths.  How  far  I  was  justified 
in  my  choice,  will  appear  in  the  course  of  the  narrative. 

The  next  step  was  to  procure  a  double  outfit — ^for  the  Nile 
and  the  Desert — and  herein  Achmet,  who  had  twice  made  the 
journey  to  Mount  Sinai  and  Petra,  rendered  me  good  service. 
I  had  some  general  knowledge  of  what  was  necessary,  but  with- 
out the  advantage  of  his  practical  experience,  should  have  been 
very  imperfectly  prepared.  As  it  was,  many  things  were  for- 
gotten in  the  haste  of  departure,  the  need  of  which  I  felt  when 
it  was  too  late  to  procure  them.  I  had  been  prudent  enough, 
when  in  Vienna,  to  provide  myself  with  Berghaus's  great  map 
of  Arabia  and  the  Yalley  of  the  Nile,  which,  with  a  stray  vol- 
ume of  Russegger,  were  my  only  guides.  In  Khartoum,  after- 
wards, I  stumbled  upon  a  copy  of  Hoskins's  Ethiopia.  The 
greater  part  of  my  funds  I  changed  into  Egyptian  silver  med- 
jidsy  colonnati,  or  Spanish  pillar-dollars,  and  the  Austrian 
dollar  of  Maria  Theresa,  all  of  which  are  current  as  far  as  Sen- 
naar  and  Abyssinia.  I  also  procured  five  hundred  piastres  in 
copper  pieces  of  five  pards  (about  half  a  cent)  each,  which  were 
contained  in  a  large  palm-basket,  and  made  nearly  an  ass's 
load.  In  addition  to  these  supplies,  I  obtained  from  an  Arme- 
nian merchant  a  letter  of  credit  on  his  brother  in  Khartoum,  for 
two  thousand  piastres,  on  which,  he  gave  me  to  understand,  I 
should  be  obliged  to  pay  a  discount  of  twenty  per  cent.  I  en- 
deavored, but  in  vain,  to  procure  some  information  relative  to 
3 


60  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

tie  cost  of  travelling  in  Nubia  and  the  countries  beyond.  The 
Frank  merchants  knew  nothing,  except  that  the  expenses  were 
vast,  and  predicted  that  the  sum  I  took  would  prove  insufficient 
and  that  I  should  certainly  become  involved  in  great  difficul- 
ties and  embarrassments.  The  native  merchants  who  had  made 
the  journey  were  all  jealous  of  a  foreign  traveller  attempting 
to  penetrate  into  their  peculiar  domain,  and  gave  me  no  satis- 
factory information,  while  to  the  imagination  of  the  Cairenes, 
Sennaar  is  the  utmost  verge  of  the  world,  and  he  who  has  been 
there  and  returned  in  safety,  enjoys  the  special  protection  of 
Allah.  Even  Achmet,  although  he  showed  no  signs  of  fear, 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  accompany  me,  informed  his  family  and 
friends  that  we  were  going  no  further  than  Wadi  Haifa,  for  he 
said  they  would  certainly  detain  him  by  force,  should  they 
learn  the  truth. 

I  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  obtain  a  firman  from  Abbas 
Pasha,  which  might  readily  have  been  procured.  The  Ameri- 
can, English  and  Austrian  Consuls  kindly  gave  me  letters  tc 
the  principal  Consular  agents  and  merchants  in  Khartoum,  be 
sides  which,  Achmet  professed  to  have  some  acquaintance  witl 
Lattif  Pasha,  who  was  then  Pasha  of  Soudan.  To  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Murray,  the  English  Consul-General,  and  Mr.  Constantino 
Kahil,  the  American  Vice-Consul  at  Cairo,  I  was  especially 
indebted  for  favors.  The  former  intrusted  me  with  despatches 
for  Khartoum  and  Obeid,  in  Kordofan,  and  the  latter  furnished 
me  with  letters  to  the  Governors  of  Thebes,  Assouan  and  Ko- 
rosko,  asking  the  latter  to  insure  my  safety  on  the  journey 
through  the  Nubian  Desert.  Thus  prepared,  I  anticipated  no 
further  trouble  on  the  road  than  from  hard-trotting  camels, 
Band,  brackish  water,  and  the  like  privations,  which  are  easilj 
borne 


OUTFIT    FOR   THE    BOAT.  51 

The  furnishing  of  a  Nile-boat  requires  considerable  know- 
ledge of  housekeeping.  The  number  of  small  articles  required 
for  this  floating  speck  of  civilization  in  a  country  of  barbarians, 
is  amazing  to  a  bachelor.  I  had  no  idea  that  the  art  of  cook- 
ing needed  such  a  variety  of  tools  and  appliances,  and  for  the 
first  time  in  my  life,  conceived  some  respect  for  the  fame  of  Tide 
and  Soyer.  There  are  frying-pans  and  stew-pans ;  coffee-pots 
and  tea-pots;  knives,  forks,  spoons,  towels,  cups,  ladles  and 
boxes;  butter,  lard,  flour,  rice,  macaroni,  oil,  vinegar,  mus- 
tard and  pepper ;  and  no  end  to  the  groceries.  We  must  have 
a  table  and  chairs,  quilts  and  pillows,  mats,  carpets  and  nap- 
kins, and  many  other  articles  which  I  should  never  have 
thought  of  without  the  help  of  Achmet  and  of  M.  Pini,  who 
keeps  a  general  depot  of  supplies.  His  printed  lists,  in  four 
languages,  lighten  the  traveller's  labor  very  greatly.  His  ex- 
perience in  regard  to  the  quantity  required,  is  also  of  much 
service;  otherwise  an  inexperienced  person  would  not  know 
whether  to  take  twelve  or  fifty  pounds  of  rice,  nor  how  much 
sugar  belonged  to  so  much  coffee.  The  expense  of  our  outfit, 
including  bread,  fowls,  mutton,  charcoal,  and  every  other 
requisite,  was  about  two  thousand  piastres — a  little  more  than 
one  hundred  dollars.  The  calculation  was  made  for  one 
month's  provisions  for  two  persons. 

For  my  further  journey  after  leaving  the  Nile,  I  was 
recommended  to  take  a  large  supply,  on  account  of  the  scarcity 
and  expense  of  many  articles  in  Upper  Nubia  and  Sennaar.  I 
therefore  purchased  sufficient  tea,  coffee,  flour,  rice,  biscuits, 
sugar,  macaroni  and  dried  fruit  to  last  me  two  months,  beside 
a  complete  canteen,  or  supply  of  articles  necessary  for  life  in 
the  desert.     I  took  an  extra  quantity  of  gunpowder,  tobacco 


52  JOURNBY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

and  coffee,  for  presents  to  the  Arab  shekhs.  The  entire  cost 
of  this  outfit  was  about  nine  hundred  piastres.  In  addition,  I 
procured  a  good  Turkish  tent  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  pias- 
tres, to  which  I  added  a  supply  of  tent-pins,  lantern-poles,  wa- 
ter-skins, and  leathern  water-flasks,  all  these  articles  being  pro- 
cured to  better  advantage  in  Cairo.  I  did  not  propose  adopt- 
ing the  Egyptian  costume  until  I  had  made  some  progress  in 
the  language,  and  therefore  contented  myself  with  purchasing 
a  hornous  of  camel's  hair,  a  sabre,  a  broad  shawl  of  Tripoli 
silk,  for  the  waist,  and  shoes  of  white  leather,  which  are  very 
cool  and  comfortable.  I  also  followed  the  custom  of  the  Euro- 
pean residents,  in  having  my  hair  shorn  close  to  the  head,  and 
wearing  a  white  cotton  skull-cap.  Over  this  was  drawn  the 
red  tarboosh,  or  fez,  and  as  a  protection  against  the  sun,  I 
bound  a  large  white  shawl  around  it,  which  was  my  first  les- 
son in  turban-making. 

Achmet,  influenced  by  a  superstition  which  is  not  peculiar 
to  the  East,  begged  me  to  hasten  our  preparations,  in  order 
that  we  might  leave  Boulak  on  Monday,  which  day,  he  averred, 
was  the  luckiest  in  the  week,  and  would  render  our  Journey 
prosperous  from  beginning  to  end.  Knowing  from  experience 
that  half  the  success  of  the  journey  is  in  the  start,  and  believ- 
ing that  it  is  better  to  have  superstition  with  you  than  against 
you,  I  determined  to  gratify  him.  He  was  as  zealous  as  I 
could  wish,  and  we  rested  not  from  morning  to  night,  until  at 
last,  from  the  spirit  with  which  we  labored,  it  seemed  almost  a 
matter  of  life  and  death,  that  the  boat  should  leave  on  Mon- 
day. I  had  a  clause  inserted  in  our  written  contract  with  the 
captain,  that  he  should  forfeit  a  day's  rent,  in  case  he  was  not 
ready  at  the  appointed  hour ;  but,  in  spite  of  this  precaution, 


THE    LUCKY    DAT.  63 

Achmet,  who  well  knew  the  indifference  of  the  Arab  nature, 
was  constantly  on  his  track.  Two  or  three  times  a  day  he 
galloped  to  Boulak,  to  hasten  the  enlistment  of  the  men,  the 
baking  of  bread  for  the  voyage,  the  furbishing  of  the  cabin, 
and  the  overhauling  of  the  sails,  oars  and  rigging.  My  Euro- 
pean friends  in  Cairo  smiled  at  our  display  of  activity,  saying 
that  such  a  thing  had  never  been  known,  as  a  boat  sailing  at 
the  appointed  time,  and  that  I  was  fatiguing  myself  to  no 
purpose. 

Monday  (Nov.  17th)  came,  and  the  Egyptian  cook,  Sa- 
lame,  whom  we  had  engaged  for  the  Nile  voyage,  was  de- 
spatched to  the  markets  to  lay  in  a  supply  of  fowls,  eggs,  but- 
ter and  vegetables.  My  letters  home — the  last  I  expected 
to  send,  for  months  to  come — ^were  committed  to  the  Post 
Office,  and  after  an  early  dinner,  we  saw  our  baggage  and 
stores  laden  upon  carts  and  started  for  Boulak,  under  Ach- 
met's  guidance.  We  took  leave  of  the  few  friends  we  had 
made  in  Cairo,  and  followed.  The  Cleopatra  was  still  lying 
in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of  dahaliyehsy  but  the  American  flag, 
hoisted  at  the  peak  of  her  little  mizzenmast,  was  our  "  cornet," 
proclaiming  departure.  We  found  Achmet  unjacketed  and 
unturbaned,  stowing  away  the  stores,  with  one  eye  on  the 
rais,  and  another  (as  it  seemed  to  me)  on  each  of  the  tardy 
sailors.  There  was  still  charcoal  to  be  bought,  and  hois  gras 
for  kindling  fires,  and  clubs  for  the  men,  to  prevent  invasions 
from  the  shore,  with  many  more  of  those  wants  which  are 
never  remembered  until  the  last  moment.  The  afternoon  wore 
away;  the  shadows  of  the  feathery  date-trees  on  the  island 
of  Rhoda  stretched  long  and  cool  across  the  Nile ;  but  before 
the  sun  had  touched  the  tops  of  the  Pyramids,  we  had  squeezed 


64  JOURNET   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

out  from  the  shipping  of  Boulak,  and  were  slowly  working  up 
the  Nile  before  a  light  wind,  while  our  boatmen  thumped  the 
ta'rahooJca,  and  sang  their  wild  Arab  songs  of  departure.  The 
rais  came  up  to  know  whether  he  had  not  fulfilled  his  contract, 
and  Achmet  with  a  cheerful  face,  turned  to  me  and  said  • 
"  Praised  be  Allah,  master  1  we  shall  have  a  lucky  journey." 


Achmet 
CHAPTER     V. 

THE    PYRAMID"    AND    MEMPHIS. 


Howlteg  Dervlahfts— A  Chi<Aen  Factory— Ricte  to  the  fyramida— Quarrel  with  the 
Arabs — The  Ascent— View  from  the  Summit— Backsheesh — Effect  of  Pyramid 
cUnibing-The  Sphinx— Playing  the  Cadi— We  obtain  Justice- Yisit  to  Sakkara 
and  the  Mummy  Pits — The  Exhumation  of  Memphis— Interview  with  M.  Marietta 
-Account  of  his  Discoveries— Statue  of  Eemeses  II.— Return  to  the  Nile. 

"And  Morning  opes  in  haste  her  lida, 
To  gaze  upon  ttio  Pyramids." — Emeesow. 

We  went  no  further  than  the  village  of  Gizeh,  three  or  four 
miles  above  Cairo,  on  the  first  evening,  having  engaged  our 
donkeys  and  their  drivers  to  meet  us  there  and  convey  us  to 
the  Pyramids  on  the  following  morning.  About  dusk,  the  rais 
moored  our  boat  to  the  bank,  beside  a  College  of  dervishes, 
"whose  unearthly  chants,  choruses  and  clapping  of  hands,  were 

prolonged  far  into  the  night.    Their  wild  cries,  and  deep,  mo- 


56  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRI0  4. 

notonous  bass  howlings  so  filled  our  ears  that  we  could  not 
choose  but  listen,  and,  in  spite  of  our  fatigue,  sleep  was  impos- 
sible. After  performing  for  several  hours,  they  gradually 
ceased,  through  sheer  exhaustion,  though  there  was  one  tough 
old  dervish,  who  continued  to  gasp  out,  ^^  Allah!  Allah /^^ 
with  such  a  spasmodic  energy,  that  I  suspected  it  was  pro- 
duced by  the  involuntary  action  of  his  larynx,  and  that  he 
could  not  have  stopped,  even  had  he  been  so  minded. 

When  we  threw  open  the  latticed  blinds  of  our  cabin,  be- 
fore sunrise,  the  next  morning,  the  extraordinary  purity  of  the 
air  gave  rise  to  an  amusing  optical  delusion  on  the  part  of  my 
friend.  "See  that  wall!"  said  he,  pointing  to  a  space  be- 
tween two  white  houses  ;  "  what  a  brilliant  color  it  is  painted, 
and  how  tKose  palms  and  these  white  houses  are  relieved 
against  it  1 "  He  was  obliged  to  look  twice  before  he  per- 
ceived that  what  he  had  taken  for  a  wall  close  at  hand,  was 
really  the  sky,  and  rested  upon  a  far-off  horizon.  Our  don- 
keys were  in  readiness  on  the  bank,  and  I  bestrode  the  same 
faithful  little  gray  who  had  for  three  days  carried  me  through 
the  bazaars  of  Cairo.  We  left  orders  for  the  rais  to  go  on  to 
Bedracheyn^  a  village  near  the  supposed  site  of  Memphis,  and 
taking  Achmet  with  us,  rode  off  gayly  among  the  mud  hovels 
and  under  the  date-trees  of  Gizeh,  on  our  way  to  the  Pyramids. 
Near  the  extremity  of  the  village,  we  entered  one  of  the  large 
chicken-hatching  establishments  for  which  the  place  is  famed, 
but  found  it  empty.  We  disturbed  a  numerous  family  of  Fel- 
lahs, couched  together  on  the  clay  floor,  crept  on  our  hands 
and  knees  through  two  small  holes  and  inspected  sundry  ovens 
covered  with  a  layer  of  chaff,  and  redolent  of  a  mild,  moist 
heat  and  a  feathery  smell.     The  owner  informed  us  that  foi 


RIDE    TO    THE    PYRAMIDS.  5^ 

the  first  four  or  five  days  the  eggs  were  exposed  to  smoke  as 
well  as  heat,  and  that  when  the  birds  began  to  pick  the  shell, 
which  generally  took  place  in  fifteen  days,  they  were  placed  in 
another  oven  and  carefully  accouched.  ♦ 

The  rising  sun  shone  redly  on  the  Pyramids,  as  we  rode 
out  on  the  broad  harvest  land  of  the  Nile.  The  black, 
unctuous  loain  was  still  too  moist  from  the  inundation  to  be 
ploughed,  except  in  spots,  here  and  there,  but  even  where  the 
water  had  scarce  evaporated,  millions  of  germs  were  pushing 
their  slender  blades  up  to  the  sunshine.  In  that  prolific  soil, 
the  growth  of  grain  is  visible  from  day  to  day.  The  Fellahs 
were  at  work  on  all  sides,  preparing  for  planting,  and  the  un- 
gainly buffaloes  drew  their  long  ploughs  slowly  through  the  soil. 
Where  freshly  turned,  the  earth  had  a  rich,  soft  lustre,  like 
dark-brown  velvet,  beside  which  the  fields  of  young  wheat, 
beans  and  lentils,  glittered  with  the  most  brilliant  green. 
The  larks  sang  in  the  air  and  flocks  of  white  pigeons  clustered 
like  blossoms  on  the  tops  of  the  sycamores.  There,  in  Novem- 
ber, it  was  the  freshest  and  most  animating  picture  of  Spring. 
The  direct  road  to  the  Pyramids  was  impassable,  on  account 
of  the  water,  and  we  rode  along  the  top  of  a  dyke,  intersected 
by  canals,  to  the  edge  of  the  Libyan  Desert — a  distance  of 
nearly  ten  miles.  The  ruptures  in  the  dyke  obliged  us  occa- 
sionally to  dismount,  and  at  the  last  canal,  which  cuts  off  the 
advancing  sands  from  the  bounteous  plain  on  the  other  side, 
our  donkeys  were  made  to  swim,  while  we  were  carried  across 
on  the  shoulderb  of  two  naked  Arabs.  They  had  run  out  in 
advance  to  meet  us,  hailing  us  with  many  English  and  French 
phrases,  while  half  a  dozen  boys,  with  earthen  bottles  which 
they  had  just  filled  from  the  slimy  canal,  crowded  after  them, 
3* 


58  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

insisting,  in  very  good  English,  that  we  should  drink  at  onc€ 
and  take  them  with  us  to  the  Pyramids. 

Our  donkeys'  hoofs  now  sank  deep  in  the  Libyan  sands 
an€  we  looked  up  to  the  great  stone-piles  of  Cheops,  Ce« 
phrenes  and  Mycerinus,  not  more  than  half  a  mile  distant. 
Our  sunrise  view  of  the  Pyramids  on  leaving  Gizeh,  was  suffi- 
cient, had  I  gone  no  further,  and  I  approached  them,  without 
the  violent  emotion  which  sentimental  travellers  experience, 
but  with  a  quiet  feeling  of  the  most  perfect  satisfaction.  The 
form  of  the  pyramid  is  so  simple  and  complete,  that  nothing  is 
left  to  the  imagination.  Those  vast,  yellowish-gray  masses, 
whose  feet  are  wrapped  in  the  silent  sand,  and  whose  tops  lean 
against  the  serene  blue  heaven,  enter  the  mind  and  remain  in 
the  memory  with  no  shock  of  surprise,  no  stir  of  unexpected 
admiration.  The  impression  they  give  and  leave,  is  calm, 
grand  and  enduring  as  themselves. 

The  sun  glared  hot  on  the  sand  as  we  toiled  up  the  ascent 
to  the  base  of  Cheops,  whose  sharp  corners  were  now  broken 
into  zigzags  by  the  layers  of  stone.  As  we  dismounted  in  his 
shadow,  at  the  foot  of  the  path  which  leads  up  to  the  entrance, 
on  the  northern  side,  a  dozen  Arabs  beset  us.  They  belonged 
to  the  regular  herd  who  have  the  Pyramids  in  charge,  and  are 
BO  renowned  for  their  impudence  that  it  is  customary  to  employ 
the  janissary  of  some  Consulate  in  Cairo,  as  a  protection.  Be- 
fore leaving  Gizeh  I  gave  Achmet  my  sabre,  which  I  thought 
would  be  a  sufficient  show  to  secure  us  from  their  importuni- 
ties. However,  when  we  had  mounted  to  the  entrance  and 
were  preparing  to  climb  to  the  summit,  they  demanded  a  dollar 
from  each  for  their  company  on  the  way.  This  was  just  four 
times  the  usual  fee,  and  we  flatly  refused  the  demand.     My 


A   QUAimEL.  59 

friend  had  in  the  mean  time  become  so  giddy  from  the  few  steps 
he  had  mounted,  that  he  decided  to  return,  and  I  ordered  Ach- 
met,  who  knew  the  way,  to  go  on  with  me  and  leave  the  Arabs 
to  their  bowlings.  Their  leader  instantly  sprang  before  hijn, 
and  attempted  U  force  him  back.  This  was  too  much  for 
Achmet,  who  thrust  the  man  aside,  whereupon  he  was  instantly 
beset  by  three  or  four,  and  received  several  hard  blows.  The 
struggle  took  place  just  on  the  verge  of  the  stones,  and  he  was 
prudent  enough  to  drag  his  assailants  into  the  open  space  before 
the  entrance  of  the  Pyramid.  My  friend  sprang  towards  the 
group  with  his  cane,  and  I  called  to  the  donkey-driver  to  bring 
up  my  sabre,  but  by  this  time  Achmet  had  released  himself, 
with  the  loss  of  his  turban. 

The  Arabs,  who  had  threatened  to  treat  us  in  the  same 
manner,  then  reduced  their  demand  to  the  regular  fee  of  five 
piastres  for  each.  I  took  three  of  them  and  commenced  the 
ascent,  leaving  Achmet  and  my  friend  below.  Two  boys  fol- 
lowed us,  with  bottles  of  water.  At  first,  the  way  seemed 
hazardous,  for  the  stones  were  covered  with  sand  and  fragments 
which  had  fallen  from  above,  but  after  we  had  mounted  twenty 
courses,  the  hard,  smooth  blocks  of  granite  formed  broader  and 
more  secure  steps.  Two  Arabs  went  before,  one  holding  each 
of  my  hands,  while  *lhe  third  shoved  me  up  from  the  rear. 
The  assistance  thus  rendered  was  not  slight,  for  few  of  the 
stones  are  less  than  four  feet  in  height.  The  water-boys 
scampered  up  beside  us  with  the  agility  of  cats.  We  stopped 
a  moment  to  take  breath,  at  a  sort  of  resting-place  half-way 
up^an  opening  in  the  Pyramid,  communicating  with  the 
uppermost  of  the  interior  chambers.  I  had  no  sooner  sat 
down  on  the  nearest  stone,  than  the  Arabs  stretched  themselves 


60  JOURNEY   TO    CEVTHAL    AFRICA. 

at  my  feet  and  entertained  me  with  moat  absurd  mixture  of 
flattery  and  menace.  One,  patting  the  calves  of  my  legs,  cried 
out;  "Oh,  what  fine,  strong  legs!  how  fast  they  came  up: 
nobody  ever  went  up  the  Pyramid  so  fast ! "  while  the  others 
added :  "  Here  you  must  give  us  backsheesh  :  every  body  gives 
us  a  dollar  here."  My  only  answer  was,  to  get  up  and  begin 
climbing,  and  they  did  not  cease  pulling  and  pushing  till  they 
left  me  breathless  on  the  summit.  The  whole  ascent  did  not 
occupy  more  than  ten  minutes. 

The  view  from  Cheops  has  been  often  described.  I  cannot 
say  that  it  increased  my  impression  of  the  majesty  and  gran- 
deur of  the  Pyramid,  for  that  was  already  complete.  My  eyes 
wandered  off  from  the  courses  of  granite,  broadening  away 
below  my  feet,  to  contemplate  the  glorious  green  of  the  Nile- 
plain,  barred  with  palm-trees  and  divided  by  the  gleaming  flood 
of  the  ancient  river ;  the  minarets  of  Cairo ;  the  purple  walls 
of  the  far  Arabian  mountains ;  the  Pyramid  groups  of  Sakkara 
and  Dashoor,  overlooking  disinterred  Memphis  in  the  South  ; 
and  the  arid  yellow  waves  of  the  Libyan  Desert,  which  rolled 
unbroken  to  the  western  sky.  The  clear,  open  heaven  above, 
which  seemed  to  radiate  light  from  its  entire  concave,  clasped 
in  its  embrace  and  harmonized  the  different  features  of  this 
wonderful  landscape.  There  was  too  much  warmth  and  bril- 
liance for  desolation.  Every  thing  was  alive  and  real;  the 
Pyramids  were  not  ruins,  and  the  dead  Pharaohs,  the  worship- 
pers of  Athor  and  Apis,  did  not  once  enter  my  mind. 

My  wild  attendants  did  not  long  allow  me  to  enjoy  the 
view  quietly.  To  escape  from  their  importunities  for  back- 
Bheesh,  I  gave  them  two  piastres  in  copper  coin,  which  instantly 
turned  their  flatteries  into  th^  most  bitter  complaints,     It  was 


PHYSICAL   EFFECT    OF    THE    ASCENT.  61 

insulting  to  give  so  little,  and  they  preferred  having  none ;  if 
I  would  not  give  a  dollar,  I  might  take  the  money  back.  1 
took  it  without  more  ado,  and  put  it  into  my  pocket.  This 
rather  surprised  them,  and  first  one,  and  then  another  came 
to  me  and  begged  to  have  it  again,  on  his  own  private  account. 
I  threw  the  coins  high  into  the  air,  and  as  they  clattered  down 
on  the  stones,  there  ensued  such  a  scramble  as  would  have  sent 
any  but  Arabs  over  the  edge  of  the  Pyramid.  We  then  com- 
menced the  descent,  two  seizing  my  hands  as  before,  and  drag- 
ging me  headlong  after  them.  "We  went  straight  down  the 
side,  sliding  and  leaping  from  stone  to  stone  without  stopping 
to  take  breath,  and  reached  the  base  in  five  or  six  minutes.  I 
was  so  excited  from  the  previous  aggression  of  the  Arabs,  that 
I  neither  felt  fatigue  nor  giddiness  on  the  way  up  and  down, 
and  was  not  aware  how  violent  had  been  my  exertions.  But 
when  I  touched  the  level  sand,  all  my  strength  vanished  in  an 
instant.  A  black  mist  came  over  my  eyes,  and  I  sank  down 
helpless  and  nearly  insensible.  I  was  scarcely  able  to  speak, 
and  it  was  an  hour  before  I  could  sit  upright  on  my  donkey. 
I  felt  the  Pyramid  in  all  my  bones,  and  for  two  or  three  days 
afterwards  moved  my  joints  with  as  much  difficulty  as  a  rheu- 
matic patient. 

The  Arabs,  who  at  first  had  threatened  to  kill  Achmet, 
now  came  forward  and  kissed  his  hands,  humbly  entreating 
pardon.  But  his  pride  had  been  too  severely  touched  by  the 
blows  he  had  received,  and  he  repulsed  them,  spitting  upon 
the  ground,  as  the  strongest  mark  of  contempt.  We  consider- 
ed it  due  to  him,  to  ourselves,  and  to  other  travellers  after  us, 
to  represent  the  matter  to  the  Shekh  of  the  Pyramids,  who 
lives  in  a  village  called  Kinnayseh,  a  mile  distant,  and  ordered 


62  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

Aohmet  to  conduct  us  thither.  We  first  rode  along  the  base 
of  the  Pyramid  of  Cephrenes,  and  down  the  sand  drifts  to  the 
majestic  head  of  the  Sphinx.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe 
this  enormous  relic  of  Egyptian  art.  There  is  nothing  like  it 
in  the  world.  Those  travellers  who  pronounce  its  features  to 
be  negro  in  their  character,  are  certainly  very  hasty  in  their 
conclusions.  That  it  is  an  Egyptian  head  is  plainly  evident, 
notwithstanding  its  mutilation.  The  type,  however,  is  rather 
fuller  and  broader  than  is  usual  in  Egyptian  statues. 

On  reaching  the  village  we  found  that  the  shekh  was  ab- 
sent in  Cairo,  but  were  received  by  his  son,  who,  after  spelling 
out  a  few  words  of  my  Arabic  passport  and  hearing  Achmet's 
relation  of  the  affair,  courteously  invited  us  to  his  house.  We 
rode  between  the  mud  huts  to  a  small  court-yard,  where  we 
dismounted.  A  carpet  was  spread  on  the  ground,  under  a 
canopy  of  palm-leaves,  and  the  place  of  honor  was  given  to  us, 
the  young  shekh  seating  himself  on  the  edge,  while  our  don- 
key-drivers, water-boys  and  a  number  of  villagers,  stood  res- 
pectfully around.  A  messenger  was  instantly  despatched  to 
the  Pyramids,  and  in  the  mean  time  we  lighted  the  pipe  of 
leace.  The  shekh  promised  to  judge  the  guilty  parties  and 
ounish  them  in  our  presence.  Coffee  was  ordered,  but  as  the 
unlucky  youth  returned  and  indiscreetly  cried  out,  "iUfa 
feesh  J  "  (there  is  none !)  the  shekh  took  him  by  the  neck, 
and  run  him  out  of  the  court-yard,  threatening  him  with  all 
manner  of  penalties  unless  he  brought  it. 

We  found  ourselves  considered  in  the  light  of  judges,  and 
I  thought  involuntarily  of  the  children  playing  Cadi,  in  the 
Arabian  tale.  But  to  play  our  Cadi  with  the  necessary  gravi- 
ty of  countenance  was  a  difficult  matter.     It  wag  rather  em 


PLAYING    THE    CADI.  63 

barrassing  to  sit  cross-legged  so  long,  and  to  look  so  severe. 
My  face  was  of  the  color  of  a  boiled  lobster,  from  the  sun,  and 
in  order  to  protect  my  eyes,  I  had  taken  off  my  cravat  and 
bound  it  around  the  red  tarboosh.  My  friend  had  swathed  his 
felt  hat  in  like  manner,  and  when  the  shekh  looked  at  us  from 
time  to  time,  while  Achmet  spoke  of  our  friendship  with  all 
the  Consuls  in  Cairo,  it  was  almost  too  much  to  enjoy  quietly. 
However,  the  shekh,  who  wore  a  red  cap  and  a  single  cotton 
garment,  treated  us  with  much  respect.  His  serene,  impar- 
tial demeanor,  as  he  heard  the  testimony  of  the  various  wit- 
nesses who  were  called  up,  was  most  admirable.  After  half 
an  hour's  delay,  the  messenger  returned,  and  the  guilty  par- 
ties were  brought  into  court,  looking  somewhat  alarmed  and 
very  submissive.  We  identified  the  two  ringleaders,  and  after 
considering  the  matter  thoroughly,  the  shekh  ordered  that 
they  should  be  instantly  bastinadoed.  We  decided  between 
ourselves  to  let  the  punishment  commence,  lest  the  matter 
should  not  be  considered  sufficiently  serious,  and  then  to  show 
our  mercy  by  pardoning  the  culprits. 

One  of  the  men  was  then  thrown  on  the  ground  and  held 
by  the  head  and  feet,  while  the  shekh  took  a  stout  rod  and 
began  administering  the  blows.  The  victim  had  prepared 
himself  by  giving  his  bornous  a  double  turn  over  his  back,  and 
as  the  end  of  the  rod  struck  the  ground  each  time,  there  was 
much  sound  with  the  veriest  farce  of  punishment.  After  half 
a  dozen  strokes,  he  cried  out,  "  ya  salaam  !  "  whereupon  the 
crowd  laughed  heartily,  and  my  friend  ordered  the  shekh  to 
stop.  The  latter  cast  the  rod  at  our  feet,  and  asked  us  to 
continue  the  infliction  ourselves,  until  we  were  satisfied.  We 
told  him  and  the  company  in  general,  through  Achmet,  that 


64  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA, 

we  were  convinced  of  his  readiness  to  punish  imposition ;  that 
we  wished  to  show  the  Arabs  that  they  must  in  future  treat 
travellers  with  respect ;  that  we  should  send  word  of  the  affair 
to  Cairo,  and  they  might  rest  assured  that  a  second  assault 
would  be  more  severely  dealt  with.  Since  this  had  been 
demonstrated,  we  were  willing  that  the  punishment  should  now 
cease,  and  in  conclusion  returned  our  thanks  to  the  shekh,  for 
his  readiness  to  do  us  justice.  This  decision  was  received 
with  great  favor ;  the  two  culprits  came  forward  and  kissed 
our  hands  and  those  of  Achmet,  and  the  villagers  pronounced 
a  unanimous  sentence  of  "  ta'ib  I "  (good  !)  The  indiscreet 
youth  again  appeared,  and  this  time  with  coffee,  of  which  we 
partook  with  much  relish,  for  this  playing  the  Cadi  was  rather 
fatiguing.  The  shekh  raised  our  hands  to  his  forehead,  and 
accompanied  us  to  the  end  of  the  village,  where  we  gave  the 
coffee-bearer  a  backsheesh,  dismissed  our  water-boys,  and 
turned  our  donkeys'  heads  toward  Abousir. 

Achmet's  dark  skin  was  pale  from  his  wounded  pride,  and  I 
was  faint  from  pyramid-climbing,  but  a  cold  fowl,  eaten  as  we 
sat  in  the  sun,  on  the  border  of  the  glowing  Desert,  comforted 
us.  The  dominion  of  the  sand  has  here  as  distinct  a  bound 
as  that  of  the  sea ;  there  is  not  thirty  yards  from  the  black, 
pregnant  loam,  to  the  fiery  plain,  where  no  spear  of  grass 
grows.  Our  path  lay  sometimes  on  one  side  of  this  border, 
sometimes  on  the  other,  for  more  than  an  hour  and  a  half,  till 
we  reached  the  ruined  pyramids  of  Abousir,  where  it  turned 
southward  into  the  Desert.  After  seeing  Cheops  and  Ce- 
phrenes,  these  pyramids  are  only  interesting  on  account  of 
their  dilapidated  state  and  the  peculiarity  of  their  forms,  some 
of  their  sides  taking  a  more  obtuse  angle  at  half  their  height 


SAKKARA    AND    MEMPHIS.  66 

They  are  buried  deep  in  the  sand,  which  has  so  drifted  toward 
the  plain,  that  from  the  broad  hollow  lying  between  them  and 
the  group  of  Sakkara,  more  than  a  mile  distant,  every  sign  of 
vegetation  is  shut  out.  Vast,  sloping  causeways  of  masonry 
lead  up  to  two  of  them,  and  a  large  mound,  occupying  the 
space  between,  suggests  the  idea  that  a  temple  formerly  stood 
there-  The  whole  of  the  desert  promontory,  which  seemed  to 
have  been  gradually  blown  out  on  the  plain,  from  the  hills  in 
the  rear,  exhibits  traces  here  and  there  of  ruins  beneath  the 
surface.  My  friend  and  I,  as  we  walked  over  the  hot  sand, 
before  our  panting  donkeys,  came  instinctively  to  the  same 
conclusion — ^that  a  large  city  must  have  once  occupied  the 
space  between,  and  to  the  southward  of,  the  two  groups  of 
pyramids.  It  is  not  often  that  amateur  antiquarians  find  such 
sudden  and  triumphant  confirmation  of  their  conjectures,  as 
we  did. 

On  the  way,  Achmet  had  told  us  of  a  Frenchman  who  had 
been  all  summer  digging  in  the  sand,  near  Sakkara.  After  we 
had  crawled  into  the  subterranean  dep6t  of  mummied  ibises, 
and  nearly  choked  ourselves  with  dust  in  trying  to  find  a  pot 
not  broken  open ;  and  after  one  of  our  donkeymen  went  into  a 
human  mummy  pit  and  brought  out  the  feet  and  legs  of  some 
withered  old  Egyptian,  we  saw  before  us  the  residence  of  this 
Frenchman ;  a  mud  hut  on  a  high  sand-bank.  It  was  an  un- 
fortunate building,  for  nearly  all  the  front  wall  had  tumbled 
down,  revealing  the  contents  of  his  kitchen.  One  or  two 
Arabs  loitered  about,  but  a  large  number  were  employed  at 
the  end  of  a  long  trench  which  extended  to  the  hills. 

Before  reaching  the  house  a  number  of  deep  pits  barred 
our  path,  and  the  loose  sand,  stirred  by  our  ftiet,  slid  back  into 


■M 


66  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

the  bottom,  as  if  eager  to  hide  the  wonders  they  disclosed. 
Pavements,  fresh  as  when  first  laid ;  basement-walls  of  white 
marble,  steps,  doorways,  pedestals  and  fragments  of  pillars 
glittered  in  the  sun,  which,  after  the  lapse  of  more  than  two 
thousand  years,  beheld  them  again.  I  slid  down  the  side  of 
the  pit  and  walked  in  the  streets  of  Memphis.  The  pavement 
of  bitumen,  which  once  covered  the  stone  blocks,  apparently  to 
protect  them  and  deaden  the  noise  of  horses  and  chariots,  was 
entire  in  many  places.  Here  a  marble  sphinx  sat  at  the  base 
of  a  temple,  and  stared  abstractedly  before  her ;  there  a  sculp- 
tured cornice,  with  heavy  mouldings,  leaned  against  the  walls 
of  the  chamber  into  which  it  had  fallen,  and  over  all  were 
scattered  fragments  of  glazed  and  painted  tiles  and  sculptured 
alabaster.  The  principal  street  was  narrow,  and  was  appa- 
rently occupied  by  private  dwellings,  but  at  its  extremity  were 
the  basement-walls  of  a  spacious  edifice.  All  the  pits  opened 
on  pavements  and  walls,  so  fresh  and  cleanly  cut,  that  they 
seemed  rather  the  foundations  of  a  new  city,  laid  yesterday, 
than  the  remains  of  one  of  the  oldest  capitals  of  the  world. 

We  approached  the  workmen,  where  we  met  the  discoverer 
of  Memphis,  Mr.  Auguste  Mariette.  On  finding  we  were  not 
Englishmen  (of  whose  visits  he  appeared  to  be  rather  shy),  he 
became  very  courteous  and  communicative.  He  apologized 
for  the  little  he  had  to  show  us,  since  on  account  of  the  Van- 
dalism of  the  Arabs,  he  was  obliged  to  cover  up  all  his  discov- 
eries, after  making  his  drawings  and  measurements.  The 
Egyptian  authorities  are  worse  than  apathetic,  for  they  would 
not  hesitate  to  burn  the  sphinxes  for  lime,  and  build  barracks 
for  filthy  soldiers  with  the  marble  blocks.  Besides  this,  the 
French  influence  at  Cairo  was  then  entirely  overshadowed  hj 


M.  MARIETTE    AND    HIS    LABORS.  67 

that  of  England,  and  although  M.  Mariette  was  supported  in 
his  labors  by  the  French  Academy,  and  a  subscription  headed 
by  Louis  Napoleon's  name,  he  was  forced  to  be  content  with 
the  simple  permission  to  dig  out  these  remarkable  ruins  and 
describe  them.  He  could  neither  protect  them  nor  remove 
the  portable  sculptures  and  inscriptions,  and  therefore  prefer- 
red giving  them  again  into  the  safe  keeping  of  the  sand 
Here  they  will  be  secure  from  injury,  until  some  more  fortu- 
nate period,  when,  possibly,  the  lost  Memphis  may  be  entirely 
given  to  the  world,  as  fresh  as  Pompeii,  and  far  more  grand 
and  imposing. 

I  asked  M.  Mariette  what  first  induced  him  to  dig  for  Mem- 
phis in  that  spot,  since  antiquarians  had  fixed  upon  the  mounds 
near  Mitrahenny  (a  village  in  the  plain  below,  and  about  four 
miles  distant),  as  the  former  site  of  the  city.  He  said  that 
the  tenor  of  an  inscription  which  he  found  on  one  of  the  blocks 
quarried  out  of  these  mounds,  induced  him  to  believe  that  the 
principal  part  of  the  city  lay  to  the  westward,  and  therefore 
he  commenced  excavating  in  the  nearest  sand-hill  in  that  di- 
rection. After  sinking  pits  in  various  places  he  struck  on  an 
avenue  of  sphinxes,  the  clue  to  all  his  after  discoveries.  Fol- 
lowing this,  he  came  upon  the  remains  of  a  temple  (probably 
the  Serapeum,  or  Temple  of  Serapis,  mentioned  by  Strabo), 
and  afterward  upon  streets,  colonnades,  public  and  private  edi  < 
fices,  and  all  other  signs  of  a  great  city.  The  number  of 
sphinxes  alone,  buried  under  these  high  sand-drifts,  amounted 
to  two  thousand,  and  he  had  frequently  uncovered  twenty  or 
thirty  in  a  day.  He  estimated  the  entire  number  of  statues, 
inscriptions  and  reliefs,  at  between  four  and  five  thousand. 
The  most  remarkable   discovery  was  that  of  eight  colossa] 


68  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

Statues,  which  were  evidently  the  product  of  Grecian  art 
During  thirteen  months  of  assiduous  labor,  with  but  one  a* 
sistant,  he  had  made  drawings  of  all  these  objects  and  forward* 
ed  them  to  Paris.  In  order  to  be  near  at  hand,  he  had  built 
an  Arab  house  of  unburnt  bricks,  the  walls  of  which  had  just 
tumbled  down  for  the  third  time.  His  workmen  were  then 
engaged  in  clearing  away  the  sand  from  the  dwelling  of  some 
old  Memphian,  and  he  intended  spreading  his  roof  over  the 
massive  walls,  and  making  his  residence  in  the  exhumed  city. 

The  man's  appearance  showed  what  he  had  undergone,  and 
gave  me  an  idea  of  the  extraordinary  zeal  and  patience  requir- 
ed to  make  a  successful  antiquarian.  His  face  was  as  brown 
as  an  Arab's,  his  eyes  severely  inflamed,  and  his  hands  as 
rough  as  a  bricklayer's.  His  manner  with  the  native  work- 
men was  admirable,  and  they  labored  with  a  hearty  good-will 
which  almost  supplied  the  want  of  the  needful  implements. 
All  they  had  v^ere  straw  baskets,  which  they  filled  with  a  sort 
of  rude  shovel,  and  then  handed  up  to  be  carried  off  on  the 
heads  of  others.  One  of  the  principal  workmen  was  deaf  and 
dumb,  but  the  funniest  Arab  I  ever  saw.  He  was  constantly 
playing  off  his  jokes  on  those  who  were  too  slow  Of  too  negli- 
gent. An  unlucky  girl,  stooping  down  at  the  wrong  time  to 
lift  a  basket  of  sand,  received  the  contents  of  another  on  her 
head,  and  her  indignant  outcry  was  hailed  by  the  rest  with 
screams  of  laughter.  I  saw  the  same  man  pick  out  of  the  sand 
a  glazed  tile  containing  hieroglyphic  characters.  The  gravity 
with  which  he  held  it  before  him,  feigning  to  peruse  it,  occa- 
sionally nodding  his  head,  as  if  to  say,  "  Well  done  for  old 
Pharaoh  !"  could  not  have  been  excelled  by  Burton  himself. 

Strabo  states  that  Memphis  had  a  circumference  of  seven 


M.  MARIETTE    AND    HIS    LABORS.  69 

teen  miles,  and  therefore  both  M.  Mariette  and  the  antiqua- 
rians  are  right.  The  mounds  of  Mitrahenny  probably  mark 
the  eastern  portion  of  the  city,  while  its  western  limit  extend- 
ed beyond  the  Pyramids  of  Sakkara,  and  included  in  its  sub- 
urbs those  of  Abousir  and  Dashoor.  The  space  explored  by 
M.  Mariette  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  length,  and  some- 
what more  than  half  a  mile  in  breadth.  He  was  then  continu- 
ing his  excavations  westward,  and  had  almost  reached  the  first 
ridge  of  the  Libyan  Hills,  without  finding  the  termination  of 
the  ruins.  The  magnitude  of  his  discovery  will  be  best  known 
when  his  drawings  and  descriptions  are  given  to  the  world. 
A  few  months  after  my  visit,  his  labors  were  further  re- 
warded by  finding  thirteen  colossal  sarcophagi  of  black  marble, 
and  he  has  recently  added  to  his  renown  by  discovering  an  en- 
trance to  the  Sphinx.  Yet  at  that  time,  the  exhumation  of 
the  lost  Memphis — second  only  in  importance  to  that  of  Nine- 
veh— ^was  unknown  in  Europe,  except  to  a  few  savans  in  Paris, 
and  the  first  intimation  which  some  of  my  friends  in  Cairo  and 
Alexandria  had  of  it,  was  my  own  account  of  my  visit,  in  the 
aerwspapers  they  received  from  America.  But  M.  Mariette  is 
a  young  man,  and  will  yet  see  his  name  inscribed  beside  those 
of  Burckhardt,  Belzoni  and  Layard. 

We  had  still  a  long  ride  before  us,  and  I  took  leave  of 
Memphis  and  its  discoverer,  promising  to  revisit  him  on  my 
return  from  Khartoum.  As  we  passed  the  brick  Pyramid  of 
Sakkara,  which  is  bmlt  in  four  terraces  of  equal  height,  the 
dark,  grateful  green  of  the  palms  and  harvest-fields  of  the  Nile 
appeared  between  two  sand-hills — a  genuine  balm  to  our  heat- 
ed eyes.  We  rode  through  groves  of  the  fragrant  mimosa  to 
a  broad  dike,  the  windings  of  which  we  were  obliged  to  follow 


10 


JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 


across  the  plain,  as  the  soil  was  still  wet  and  adhesive.  It  waa 
too  late  to  visit  the  beautiful  Pyramids  of  Dashoor,  the  first  of 
which  is  more  than  three  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  from  a 
distance  has  almost  as  grand  an  effect  as  those  of  Gizeh.  Our 
tired  donkeys  lagged  slowly  along  to  the  palm-groves  of  Mitra- 
henny,  where  we  saw  mounds  of  earth,  a  few  blocks  of  red 
granite  and  a  colossal  statue  of  Remeses  II.  (Sesostris) — which 
until  now  were  supposed  to  be  the  only  remains  of  Memphis. 
The  statue  lies  on  its  face  in  a  hole  filled  with  water.  The 
countenance  is  said  to  be  very  beautiful,  but  I  could  only  see 
the  top  of  Sesostris's  back,  which  bore  a  faint  resemblance  to 
a  crocodile. 

Through  fields  of  cotton  in  pod  and  beans  in  blossom,  we 
rode  to  the  Nile,  dismissed  our  donkeys  and  their  attendants, 
and  lay  down  on  some  bundles  of  corn-stalks  to  wait  the  arri- 
val of  our  boat.  But  there  had  been  a  south  wind  all  day, 
and  we  had  ridden  much  faster  than  our  men  could  tow.  We 
eat  till  long  after  sunset  before  the  stars  and  stripes,  floating 
from  the  mizzen  of  the  Cleopatra^  turned  the  corner  below 
Bedrasheyn.  When,  at  last,  we  sat  at  our  cabin-table,  weary 
and  hungry,  we  were  ready  to  confess  that  the  works  of  art 
produced  by  our  cook,  Salame,  were  more  marvellous  and  in- 
teresting than  Memphis  and  the  Pyramids. 


m.. 


L£4V£    THE    PTRAMIOS.  7] 


CHAPTER    VI. 

PROM     MEMPHIS     TO     S  I  O  U  T. 

Leaving  the  PTramids— A  Calm  and  a  Breeze — A  Coptic  Visit— Minyeh — The  Grotto*)! 
of  Beni-Hassan— Doum  Palms  and  Crocodilea— Djebel  Aboufayda— Entrance  into 
Upper  Egypt— Diversions  of  the  Boatmen — Siout-Its  Tombs— A  Landscape— A 
Bath. 

"  It  flows  through  old  hushed  Egypt  and  its  sands, 
*  Like  some  grave,  mighty  thought  threading  a  dream." 

Leigh  Hunt's  Sonnbt  to  the  Nilk. 

The  extent  of  my  journey  into  Africa  led  me  to  reverse  the 
usual  plan  pursued  by  travellers  on  the  Nile,  who  sail  to  As- 
souan or  Wadi-Halfa  without  pause,  and  visit  the  antiquities 
on  their  return.  I  have  never  been  able  to  discern  the  phi- 
losophy of  this  plan.  The  voyage  up  is  always  longer,  and 
more  tedious  (to  those  heathens  who  call  the  Nile  tedious), 
than  the  return ;  besides  which,  two  visits,  though  brief,  with 
an  interval  between,  leave  a  more  complete  and  enduring 
image,  than  a  single  one.  The  mind  has  time  to  analyze  and 
contrast,  and  can  afterwards  confirm  or  correct  the  first  im- 
pressions. How  any  one  can  sail  from  Cairo  to  Siout,  a  voy- 
age of  two  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  with  but  one  or  two  points 
of  interest,  without  taking  the  Pyramids  with  him  in  memory, 
I  cannot  imagine.  Were  it  not  for  that  recollection,  I  should 
have   pronounced   Modern  Egypt  more  interesting  than  the 


12  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

Egypt  of  the  Pharaohs  and  the  Ptolemies.  I  omitted  seeing 
none  of  the  important  remains  on  my  upward  journey,  so  that 
I  might  be  left  free  to  choose  another  route  homeward,  if  pos- 
sible. It  seemed  like  slighting  Fortune  to  pass  Dendera,  and 
Karnak  and  Ombos,  without  notice.  Opportunity  is  rare,  and 
a  wise  man  will  never  let  it  go  by  him.  .  I  knew  not  what  dan- 
gers I  might  have  to  encounter,  but  I  knew  that  it  would  be  a 
satisfaction  to  me,  even  if  speared  by  the  Bedouins  of  the  Ly- 
bian  Desert,  to  think  :  "  You  rascals,  you  have  killed  me,  but 
r  have  seen  Thebes  ! " 

The  Pyramids  of  Dashoor  followed  us  all  the  next  day 
after  leaving  Memphis.  Our  sailors  tugged  us  slowly  along 
shore,  against  a  mild  south  wind,  but  could  not  bring  us  out  of 
the  horizon  of  those  red  sandstone  piles.  Our  patience  was 
tried,  that  day  and  the  next,  by  our  slow  and  toilsome  progress, 
hindered  still  more  by  running  aground  on  sand-banks,  but  we 
were  pledged  to  patience,  and  had  our  reward.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  fourth  day,  as  we  descried  before  us  the  minarets  of 
Benisouef,  the  first  large  town  after  leaving  Cairo,  a  timid 
breeze  came  rustling  over  the  dourra-fields  to  the  north,  and 
pufied  out  the  Cleopatra's  languid  sails.  The  tow-rope  was 
■  hauled  in,  our  Arabs  jumped  on  board  and  produced  the  drum 
and  tambourine,  singing  lustily  as  we  moved  out  into  the 
middle  of  the  stream.  The  wind  increased;  the  flag  lifted  itself 
from  the  mast  and  streamed  toward  Thebes,  and  Benisouef 
went  by,  almost  before  we  had  counted  its  minarets.  I  tried 
in  vain  to  distinguish  the  Pyramid  of  Illahoon,  which  stands 
inland,  at  the  base  of  the  Libyan  Hills  and  the  entrance  of  the 
pass  leading  to  the  Lake  of  Fyoom,  the  ancient  Moeris.  Near 
the  Pvramid  are  the  foundations  of  the  famous  Labyrinth. 


A    COPTIC    VISIT.  tS 

lately  excavated  by  Dr.  Lepsius.  The  Province  of  Fyoom, 
surrounding  the  lake,  is,  with  the  exception  of  the  Oases  in 
the  Libyan  Desert,  the  only  productive  land  west  of  the  moun- 
tains bordering  the  Nile. 

All  afternoon,  with  both  sails  full  and  our  vessel  leaning 
against  the  current,  we  flew  before  the  wind.  At  dusk,  the 
town  of  Feshn  appeared  on  our  left ;  at  midnight,  we  passed 
Abou-Girgeh  and  the  Mounds  of  Behnesa,  the  ancient  Oxyrin- 
chus ;  and  when  the  wind  left  us,  at  simrise,  we  were  seventy 
miles  from  Benisouef.  The  Arabian  Mountains  here  approach 
the  river,  and  at  two  points  terminate  in  abrupt  precipices  of 
yellow  calcareous  rock.  The  bare  cliffs  of  Djebel  el  Tayr  (the 
Mountain  of  Birds),  are  crowned  with  the  "  Convent  of  the 
Pulley,"  so  called  from  its  inaccessible  situation,  and  the  fact 
that  visitors  are  frequently  drawn  to  the  summit  by  a  rope  and 
windlass.  While  passing  this  convent,  a  cry  came  up  from 
the  muddy  waters  of  the  river :  "  We  are  Christians,  0  How- 
adji ! "  and  presently  two  naked  Coptic  monks  wriggled  over 
the  gunwale,  and  sat  down,  panting  and  dripping,  on  the  deck. 
We  gave  them  backsheesh,  which  they  instantly  clapped  into 
their  mouths,  but  their  souls  likewise  devoutly  yearned  for 
brandy,  which  they  did  not  get.  They  were  large,  lusty  fellows, 
and  whatever  perfection  of  spirit  they  might  have  attained, 
their  flesh  certainly  had  never  been  unnecessarily  mortified. 
After  a  breathing  spell,  they  jumped  into  the  river  again,  and 
we  soon  saw  them  straddling  from  point  to  point,  as  they 
crawled  up  the  almost  perpendicular  cliff.  At  Djebel  el  Tayr, 
the  birds  of  Egypt  (according  to  an  Arabic  legend)  assemble 
annually  and  choose  one  of  their  number  to  remain  there  for  a 
year.  My  friend  complained  that  the  wild  geese  and  ducks 
4 


Y4  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL   AFRICA. 

were  not  represented,  and  out  of  revenge  fired  at  a  company  of 
huge  pelicans,  who  were  seated  on  a  sand-bank. 

The  drum  and  tambourine  kept  lively  time  to  the  voices  of 
our  sailors,  as  we  approached  Minyeh,  the  second  large  town 
on  the  river,  and  the  capital  of  a  Province.  But  the  song  this 
time  had  a  peculiar  significance.  After  the  long-drawn  sound, 
something  between  a  howl  and  a  groan,  which  terminated  it,  we 
were  waited  upon  by  a  deputation,  who  formally  welcomed  us 
to  the  city.  We  responded  by  a  backsheesh  of  twenty-five 
piastres,  and  the  drum  rang  louder  than  ever.  We  stayed  in 
Minyeh  long  enough  to  buy  a  leg  of  mutton,  and  then  sailed 
for  the  tombs  of  Beni-Hassan.  The  wind  left  us  as  we  reached 
a  superb  palm-grove,  which  for  several  miles  skirts  the  foot  of 
Djebel  Shekh  Timay.  The  inhabitants  are  in  bad  odor,  and  in 
addition  to  our  own  guard,  we  were  obliged  to  take  two  men 
from  the  village,  who  came  armed  with  long  sticks  and  built  a 
fire  on  the  bank,  beside  our  vessel.  This  is  a  regulation  of 
the  Government,  to  which  travellers  usually  conform,  b|jt  I 
never  saw  much  reason  for  it.  We  rose  at  dawn  and  wandered 
for  hours  through  the  palms,  to  the  verge  of  the  Desert.  When 
within  two  or  three  miles  of  the  mountain  of  Beni-Hassan,  we 
provided  ourselves  with  candles,  water-flasks  and  weapons,  and 
set  oflf  in  advance  of  our  boat.  The  Desert  here  reached  the 
Nile,  terminating  in  a  bluff  thirty  to  forty  feet  in  height,  which 
is  composed  of  layers  of  pebbles  and  shelly  sand,  apparently 
the  deposit  of  many  successive  floods.  I  should  have  attri- 
buted this  to  the  action  of  the  river,  cutting  a  deeper  channel 
from  year  to  year,  but  I  believe  it  is  now  acknowledged  that  the 
bed  of  the  Nile  is  gradually  rising,  and  that  the  yearly  inun 
dation  covers  a  much  wider  space  than  in  the  time  of  the  Phs^ 


THE    GROTTOES    OF    BENI-HASSAN.  t^ 

raohs.  It  is  difficult  to  reconcile  this  fact  with  the  very  per 
ceptible  encroachments  which  the  sand  is  making  on  the  Libyan 
shore ;  but  we  may  at  least  be  satisfied  that  the  glorious  harvest- 
valley  through  which  the  river  wanders  can  never  be  wholly 
effaced  thereby. 

We  climbed  to  the  glaring  level  of  the  Desert,  carrying 
with  us  the  plumes  of  a  beautiful  gray  heron  which  my  friend 
brought  down.  A  solitary  Arab  horseman  was  slowly  moving 
along  the  base  of  the  arid  hills,  and  we  descried  in  the  dis- 
tance a  light-footed  gazelle,  which  leisurely  kept  aloof  and 
mocked  our  efforts  to  surround  it.  At  .the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tain we  passed  two  ruined  villages,  destroyed  several  years  ago 
by  Ibrahim  Pasha,  on  account  of  the  marauding  propensities  of 
the  inhabitants.  It  has  a  cruel  sound,  when  you  are  told  that 
the  people  were  driven  away,  and  their  dwellings  razed  to  the 
ground,  but  the  reality  is  a  trifling  matter.  The  Arabs  take 
their  water-skins  and  pottery,  jump  into  the  Nile,  swim  across 
to  a  safer  place,  and  in  three  or  four  days  their  palaces  of  mud 
are  drying  in  the  sun.  "We  came  upon  them  the  next  morning, 
as  thievishly  inclined  as  ever,  and  this  was  the  only  place 
where  I  found  the  people  otherwise  than  friendly. 

A  steep  path,  up  a  slope  covered  with  rounded  boulders  of 
hard  black  rock,  leads  to  the  grottoes  of  Beni-Hassan.  They 
are  among  the  oldest  in  Egypt,  dating  from  the  reign  of  Osir- 
tasen  I,  about  1750  years  before  the  Christian  Era,  and  are 
interesting  from  their  encaustic  paintings,  representing  Egjrp- 
tian  life  and  customs  at  that  early  date.  The  rock  chambers 
extend  for  nearly  half  a  mile  along  the  side  of  the  mountain. 
The  most  of  them  are  plain  and  without  particular  interest^ 
and  they  have  all  suflered  from  the  great  spoilers  of  Egypt— 


76  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

the  Persian,  the  Copt  and  the  Saracen.  Four  only  retain  their 
hieroglyphics  and  paintings,  and  are  adorned  with*  columns 
hewn  from  the  solid  rock.  The  first  we  entered  contained  four 
plain,  fluted  columns,  one  of  which  had  been  shivered  in  the 
centre,  leaving  the  architrave  and  capital  suspended  from  the 
ceiling.  The  walls  were  covered  with  paintings,  greatly  faded 
and  defaced,  representing  the  culture  and  manufacture  of  flax, 
the  sowing  and  reaping  of  grain,  and  the  making  of  bread, 
besides  a  number  of  spirited  hunting  and  fishing  scenes.  The 
occupant  of  the  tomb  appears  to  have  been  a  severe  master, 
for  his  servants  are  shown  in  many  places,  undergoing  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  bastinado,  which  is  even  inflicted  upon  women. 
He  was  also  wealthy,  for  we  still  see  his  stewards  presenting 
him  with  tablets  showing  the  revenues  of  his  property.  He 
was  a  great  man  in  Joseph's  day,  but  the  pit  in  which  he  lay 
is  now  empty,  and  the  Arabs  have  long  since  burned  his 
mummy  to  boil  their  rice. 

The  second  tomb  is  interesting,  from  a  painting  represent- 
ing thirty  men,  of  a  foreign  nation,  who  are  brought  before  the 
deceased  occupant.  Some  antiquarians  suppose  them  to  be  the 
brethren  of  Joseph,  but  the  tomb  is  that  of  a  person  named 
Nehophth,  and  the  number  of  men  does  not  correspond 
with  the  Bible  account.  Two  of  the  southern  tombs,  which 
are  supported  by  pillars  formed  of  four  budding  locust-stalky 
bound  together,  are  covered  with  paintings  representing  differ- 
ent trades  and  professions.  The  rear  walls  are  entirely  devot- 
ed to  illustrations  of  gymnastic  exercises,  and  the  figures  are 
drawn  with  remarkable  freedom  and  skill.  There  are  never 
more  than  two  persons  in  a  group,  one  being  painted  red  and 
the  other  black,  in  order  the  better  to  show  the  position  of 


ANTINOB.  *Jl 

each.  In  at  least  five  hundred  different  groupings  the  saiae 
exercise  is  not  repeated,  showing  a  wonderful  fertility  of  inven- 
tion, either  on  the  part  of  the  artist  or  the  wrestlers.  The 
execution  of  these  figures  fully  reached  my  ideas  of  Egyptian 
pictorial  art,  but  the  colors  were  much  less  vivid  than  some 
travellers  represent.  The  tombs  are  not  large,  though  numer- 
ous, and  what  is  rather  singular,  there  is  not  the  least  trace  of 
a  city  in  the  neighborhood,  to  which  they  could  have  belonged. 

The  next  day  at  noon  we  passed  between  the  mounds  of 
Antinoe  and  Hermopolis  Magna,  lying  on  opposite  banks  of  the 
Nile,  Antinoe,  built  by  the  Emperor  Adrian  in  honor  of  his 
favorite,  the  glorious  Antinous,  who  was  here  drowned  in  the 
river,  has  entirely  disappeared,  with  the  exception  of  its  foun- 
dations. Twenty-five  years  ago,  many  interesting  monuments 
were  still  standing,  but  as  they  were,  unfortunately,  of  the 
white  calcareous  stone  of  the  Arabian  Hills,  they  have  been 
long  since  burnt  for  lime.  Before  reaching  Antinoe  we  had 
just  come  on  board,  after  a  long  walk  on  the  western  bank,  and 
the  light  wind  which  bore  us  toward  the  mountain  of  Shekh 
Abaddeh  was  too  pleasant  to  be  slighted ;  so  we  saw  nothing 
of  Adrian's  city  except  some  heaps  of  dirt.  The  splendid 
evening,  however,  which  bathed  the  naked  cliffs  of  the  moun- 
tain in  rosy  flame,  was  worth  more  to  us  than  any  amount  of 
marble  blocks. 

The  guide  book  says,  "  hereabouts  appears  the  doum  palm, 
and  crocodiles  begin  to  be  more  frequently  seen."  The  next 
morning  we  found  one  of  the  trees,  but  day  after  day  we  vainly 
sought  a  crocodile.  My  friend  recalled  a  song  of  Geibel's,  con- 
cerning a  German  musician  who  played  his  violin  by  the  Nile 
till  the  crocodiles  came  out  and  danced  around  the  Pyramids, 


78  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

and  in  his  despair  would  also  have  purchased  a  violin,  if  any 
could  have  been  found  in  Siout.  I  had  seen  alligators  on  the 
Mississippi,  and  took  the  disappointment  more  complacently. 
The  doum  palm  differs  from  the  columnar  date-palm  in  the 
form  of  its  leaves,  which  are  fan-like,  and  in  having  a  branching 
trunk.  The  main  stem  divides  a  few  feet  from  the  root,  each 
of  the  branches  again  forming  two,  and  each  of  these  two  more, 
till  the  tree  receives  a  broad,  rounded  top.  The  fruit  hangs 
below  in  clusters,  resembling  small  coooa-nuts,  and  has  a  sort 
of  gingerbread  flavor,  which  is  not  disagreeable.  When  fully 
dry  and  hard,  it  takes  a  polish  like  ivory,  and  is  manufactured 
by  the  Arabs  into  beads,  pipe  bowls  and  other  small  articles. 
We  approached  the  mountain  of  Aboufayda  with  a  strong 
and  favorable  wind.  Here  the  Nile,  for  upward  of  ten  miles, 
washes  the  foot  of  lofty  precipices,  whose  many  deep  fissures 
and  sharp  angles  give  them  the  appearance  of  mountains  in 
ruin.  The  afternoon  sun  shone  full  on  the  yellow  rocks,  and 
their  jagged  pinnacles  were  cut  with  wonderful  distinctness 
against  the  perfect  blue  of  the  sky.  This  mountain  is  con- 
Bidered  the  most  dangerous  point  on  the  Nile  for  boats,  and  the 
sailors  always  approach  it  with  fear.  Owing  to  its  deep  side- 
gorges,  the  wind  sometimes  shifts  about  without  a  moment's 
warning,  and  if  the  large  lateen  sail  is  caught  aback,  the  vessel 
is  instantly  overturned.  During  the  passage  of  this  and  other 
similar  straits,  two  sailors  sit  on  deck,  holding  the  sail  rope, 
ready  to  let  it  fly  in  the  wind  on  the  slightest  appearance  of 
danger.  The  shifting  of  the  sail  is  a  delicate  business,  at  such 
times,  but  I  found  it  better  to  trust  to  our  men,  awkward  as 
they  were,  than  to  confuse  by  attempting  to  direct  them.  At 
Djebel  Shekh  Said,  the  sailors  have  a  custom  of  throwing  two 


APPRO  A.CH    TO    UPPER    EGYPT.  7|^ 

or  three  loaves  of  bread  on  the  water,  believing  that  it  will  be 
taken  up  by  two  large  white  birds  and  deposited  on  the  tomb 
of  the  Shekh.  The  wind  favored  us  in  passing  Aboufayda; 
the  Cleopatra  dashed  the  foam  from  the  rough  waves,  and  in 
two  or  three  hours  the  southern  corner  of  the  mountain  lay 
behind  us,  leaning  away  from  the  Nile  like  the  shattered  pylon 
of  a  temple. 

Before  sunset  we  passed  the  city  of  Manfalout,  whose 
houses  year  by  year  topple  into  the  mining  flood.  The  side 
next  the  river  shows  only  halves  of  buildings,  the  rest  of 
which  have  been  washed  away.  In  a  few  years  the  tall  and 
airy  minarets  will  follow,  and  unless  the  inhabitants  continue 
to  shift  their  dwellings  to  the  inland  side,  the  city  will  entirely 
disappear.  From  this  point,  the  plain  of  Siout,  the  garden  of 
Upper  Egypt,  opened  wide  and  far  before  us.  The  spur  of 
the  Libyan  hills,  at  the  foot  of  which  the  city  is  built,  shot 
out  in  advance,  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  miles  distant,  but 
the  Nile,  loth  to  leave  these  beautiful  fields  and  groves,  winds 
hither  and  thither  in  such  &  devious,  lingering  track,  that  you 
must  sail  twenty-five  miles  to  reach  El  Hamra,  the  port  of 
Siout.  The  landscape,  broader  and  more  majestic  than  those 
of  Lower  Egypt,  is  even  richer  and  more  blooming.  The 
Desert  is  kept  within  its  proper  bounds ;  it  is  no  longer  visible 
from  the  river,  and  the  hills,  whose  long,  level  lines  frame  the 
view  on  either  side,  enhance  by  their  terrible  sterility  the. 
luxury  of  vegetation  which  covers  the  plain.  It  is  a  boun- 
teous land,  visited  only  by  healthy  airs,  and  free  from  the  pes- 
tilence which  sometimes  scourges  Cairo. 

The  wind  fell  at  midnight,  but  came  to  us  again  the  next 
morning  at  sunrise,  and  brought  us  to  El  Hamra  before  noon. 


so  JOUENEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

Our  men  were  in  high  spirits  at  having  a  day  of  rest  be« 
fore  them,  the  contracts  for  boats  always  stipulating  for  a  halt 
of  twenty-four  hours  at  Siout  and  Esneh,  in  order  that  they 
may  procure  their  supplies  of  provisions.  They  buy  wheat 
and  dourra,  have  it  ground  in  one  of  the  rude  mills  worked  by 
buffaloes,  and  bake  a  sufficient  quantity  of  loaves  to  last  two 
or  three  weeks.  Our  men  had  also  the  inspiration  of  back- 
sheesh in  their  song,  and  their  dolorous  love-melodies  rang 
from  shore  to  shore.  The  correctness  with  which  these  people 
sing  is  absolutely  surprising.  Wild  and  harsh  as  are  their 
songs,  their  choruses  are  in  perfect  accord,  and  even  when  at 
the  same  time  exerting  all  their  strength  at  the  poles  and  oars, 
they  never  fail  in  a  note.  The  melodies  are  simple,  but  not 
without  expression,  and  all  are  pervaded  with  a  mournful  mo- 
notony which  seems  to  have  been  caught  from  the  Desert. 
There  is  generally  an  improvisatore  in  each  boat's  crew,  who 
supplies  an  endless  number  of  lines  to  the  regular  chorus  of 
"  hay-hayUe  sah  !  "  So  far  as  I  could  understand  our  poet, 
there  was  not  the  least  meaning  or  connection  in  his  poetry, 
but  he  never  failed  in  the  rhythm.  He  sang,  for  instance : 
"  O  Alexandrian  ! " — then  followed  the  chorus  :  "  Hasten, 
three  of  you ! " — chorus  again  :  "  Hail,  Sidi  Ibrahim  1 "  and 
so  on,  for  an  hour  at  a  time.  On  particular  occasions,  he  add- 
ed pantomime,  and  the  scene  on  our  forward  deck  resembled  a 
war-dance  of  the  Blackfeet.  The  favorite  pantomime  is  that 
of  a  man  running  into  a  homet^s  nest.  He  stamps  and  cries, 
improvising  all  the  while,  the  chorus  seeking  to  drown  his 
voice.  He  then  throws  off  his  mantle,  cap,  and  sometimes  his 
last  garment,  slapping  his  body  to  drive  off  the  hornets,  and 
howling  with  pain.     The  song  winds  up  with  a  prolonged  cry, 


8I0UT.  81 

which  only  ceases  when  every  lung  is  emptied.  Even  when 
most  mirthfully  inclined,  and  roaring  in  ecstasy  over  some  sil- 
ly joke,  our  men  always  laughed  in  accord.  So  sound  and 
hearty  were  their  cachinnatory  choruses,  that  we  involuntarily 
laughed  with  them. 

A  crowd  of  donkeys,  ready  saddled,  awaited  us  on  the  bank, 
and  the  boys  began  to  fight  before  our  boat  was  moored.  We 
chose  three  unpainted  animals,  so  large  that  our  feet  were  at 
least  three  inches  from  the  ground,  and  set  off  on  a  gallop  for 
Siout,  which  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  river.  Its 
fifteen  tall,  white  minarets  rose  before  us,  against  the  back- 
ground of  the  mountain,  and  the  handsome  front  of  the  palace 
of  Ismail  Pasha  shone  through  the  dark  green  of  its  embosom- 
ing acacias.  The  road  follows  the  course  of  a  dam,  built  to 
retain  the  waters  of  the  inundation,  and  is  shaded  with  palms, 
sycamores  and  mimosas.  On  either  side  we  looked  down  upon 
fields  of  clover,  so  green,  juicy  and  June-like  that  I  was 
tempted  to  jump  from  my  donkey  and  take  a  roll  therein. 
Where  the  ground  was  still  damp  the  Arabs  were  ploughing 
with  camels,  and  sowing  wheat  on  the  moist,  fat  loam.  We 
crossed  a  bridge  and  entered  the  court  of  justice,  one  of  the 
most  charmingly  clean  and  shady  spots  in  Egypt.  The  town, 
which  is  built  of  sun-dried  bricks,  whose  muddy  hue  is  some- 
what relieved  by  the  whitewashed  mosques  and  minarets,  is 
astonishingly  clean  in  every  part.  The  people  themselves  ap- 
peared to  be  orderly,  intelligent  and  amiable. 

The  tombs  of  the  City  of  Wolves,  the  ancient  Lycopolis, 

are  in  the  eastern  front  of  the  mountain  overhanging  the  city. 

We  rode  to  the  Stall  Antar,  the  principal  one,  and  then 

climbed  to  the  summit.      The  tombs  are  much  larger  that 

4# 


82  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

those  of  Beni-Hassan,  but  have  been  almost  ruined  by  the 
modern  Egyptians.  The  enormous  square  pillars  which  filled 
their  halls  have  been  shattered  down  for  lime,  and  only  frag- 
ments of  the  capitals  still  hang  from  the  ceilings  of  solid  rock. 
The  sculptures  and  hieroglyphics,  which  are  here  not  painted 
but  sculptured  in  intaglio,  are  also  greatly  defaced.  The 
second  tomb  called  by  the  Arabs  Stall  Hamam  (Pigeon  Sta- 
ble), retains  its  grand  doorway,  which  has  on  each  side  the  co- 
lossal figure  of  an  ancient  king.  The  sand  around  its  mouth 
is  filled  with  fragments  of  mummied  wolves,  and  on  our  way 
up  the  mountain  we  scared  one  of  their  descendants  from  his 
lair  in  a  solitary  tomb.  The  Stall  Hamam  is  about  sixty 
feet  square  by  forty  in  height,  and  in  its  rough  and  ruined  as- 
pect is  more  impressive  than  the  more  chaste  and  elegant 
chambers  of  Beni-Hassan.  The  view  of  the  plain  of  Siout, 
seen  through  its  entrance,  has  a  truly  magical  eflfect.  From 
the  gray  twilight  of  the  hall  in  which  you  stand,  the  green  of 
the  fields,  the  purple  of  the  distant  mountains,  and  the  blue 
of  the  sky,  dazzle  your  eye  as  if  tinged  with  the  broken  rays 
of  a  prism. 

From  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  which  we  reached  by 
scaling  a  crevice  in  its  white  cliffs,  we  overlooked  a  more  beau- 
tiful landscape  than  that  seen  from  the  Pyramid.  In  the 
north,  beyond  the  spires  of  Manfalout  and  the  crags  of  Abou- 
fayda,  we  counted  the  long  palm-groves,  receding  behind  one 
another  to  the  yellow  shore  of  the  Desert ;  in  front,  the  wind- 
ing Nile  and  the  Arabian  Mountains ;  southward,  a  sea  of 
wheat  and  clover  here  deepening  into  dark  emerald,  there  pal- 
ing into  gold,  according  to  the  degree  of  moisture  in  the  soil, 
and  ceasing  only  because  the  eye  refused  to  follow ;  whilo  be- 


6IOUT A    BATH.  Q$ 

hind  us,  over  the  desert  hills,  wound  the  track  of  the  yearly 
caravan  from  Dar-Fur  and  Kordofan.  Our  Arab  guide  point- 
ed out  a  sandy  plain,  behind  the  cemetery  of  the  Mamelukes, 
which  lay  at  our  feet,  as  the  camping-ground  of  the  caravan, 
and  tried  to  tell  us  how  many  thousand  camels  were  assembled 
there.  As  we  looked  upon  the  superb  plain,  teeming  with  its 
glory  of  vegetable  life  and  enlivened  by  the  songs  of  the  Arab 
ploughmen,  a  funeral  procession  came  from  the  city  and  passed 
slowly  to  the  burying-ground,  accompanied  by  the  dismal 
howling  of  a  band  of  women.  We  went  below  and  rode  be- 
tween the  whitewashed  domes  covering  the  graves  of  the 
Mamelukes.  The  place  was  bright,  clean  and  cheerful,  in 
comparison  with  the  other  Arab  burying-grounds  we  had  seen. 
The  grove  which  shades  its  northern  wall  stretches  for  more 
than  a  mile  along  the  edge  of  the  Desert — a  picturesque  ave- 
nue of  palms,  sycamores,  fragrant  acacias,  mimosas  and  acan- 
thus. The  air  around  Siout  is  pregnant  with  the  rich  odor  of 
the  yellow  mimosa-flowers,  and  one  becomes  exhilarated  by 
breathing  it. 

The  city  has  handsome  bazaars  and  a  large  bath,  built  by 
Mohammed  Bey  Defterdar,  the  savage  son-in-law  of  Mohammed 
Ali.  The  halls  are  spacious,  supported  by  granite  columns, 
and  paved  with  marble.  Little  threads  of  water,  scarcely  visi- 
ble in  the  dim,  steamy  atmosphere,  shoot  upward  from  the 
stone  tanks,  around  which  a  dozen  brown  figures  lie  stretched 
in  the  lazy  beatitude  of  the  bath.  I  was  given  over  to  two 
Arabs,  who  scrubbed  me  to  desperation,  plunged  me  twice  ovei 
head  and  ears  in  a  tank  of  scalding  water,  and  then  placed  me 
under  a  cold  douche.  When  the  whole  process,  which  occupied 
more  than  half  an  hour,  was  over,  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  pipe 


84  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    ArRIC'A. 

were  brought  to  me  as  I  lay  stretched  out  on  the  divan,  whilo 
another  attendant  commenced  a  course  of  dislocation,  twisting 
and  cracking  all  my  joints  and  pressing  violently  with  both 
hands  on  my  breast.  Singularly  enough,  this  removed  the  lan- 
guor occasioned  by  so  much  hot  water,  and  gave  a  wonderful 
elasticity  to  the  frame.  I  walked  out  as  if  shod  with  the  wings 
of  Mercury,  and  as  I  rode  back  to  our  boat,  congratulated  my 
donkey  on  the  airy  lightness  of  his  load. 


The  Cleopatra. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

LIFE   ON   THE   NILE. 

Independence  of  Nile  Life— The  Dahabiyeh — Onr  Servants— Our  Residence — Our  Man- 
ner of  Living— The  Climate— The  Native*— Costume— Our  Sunset  Eepose— My 
Friend— A  Sensuous  Life  Defended. 


"The  life  thou  seek'st 

Thou'lt  find  beside  the  Eternal  Nile."— Moore's  Alciphbon. 

We  hear  much  said  by  tourists  who  have  visited  Egypt, 
concerning  the  comparative  pains  and  pleasures  of  life  on  the 
Nile,  and  their  decisions  are  as  various  as  their  individual 
characters.  Four  out  of  every  five  complain  of  the  monotony 
and  tedium  of  the  voyage,  and  pour  forth  touching  lamenta- 
tions over  the  annoyance  of  rats  and  cockroaches,  the  impossi- 
bility of  procuring  beef-steak,  or  the  difficulty  of  shooting 
crocodiles.     Some  of  them  are  wholly  impermeable  to  the  influ- 


86  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL   AFRICA. 

ences  of  the  climate,  scenery  and  ruins  of  Egypt,  and  carry  to 
the  Nubian  frontier  the  airs  of  Broadway  or  Bond-street.  I 
have  heard  such  a  one  say  :  "  This  seeing  the  Nile  is  a  nice 
thing  to  have  gotten  over,  but  it  is  a  great  bore  while  you  are 
about  it."  Such  is  the  spirit  of  those  travelling  snobs  (of  all 
nations),  by  some  of  whom  sacred  Egypt  is  profaned  every 
winter.  They  are  unworthy  to  behold  the  glories  of  the  Nile, 
and  if  I  had  the  management  of  Society,  they  never  should. 
A  palm-tree  is  to  them  a  good  post  to  shoot  a  pigeon  from ; 
Dendera  is  a  "  rum  old  concern,"  and  a  crocodile  is  better  than 
Karnak. 

There  are  a  few,  however,  who  will  acknowledge  the  truth 
of  the  picture  which  follows,  and  which  was  written  in  the  cabin 
of  the  Cleopatra,  immediately  after  our  arrival  in  Upper  Egypt. 
As  it  is  a  faithful  transcript  of  my  Nilotic  life,  I  have  devi- 
ated from  the  regular  course  of  my  narrative,  in  order  to  give 
it  without  change  : — 

The  Nile  is  the  Paradise  of  Travel.  I  thought  I  had 
already  fathomed  all  the  depths  of  enjoyment  which  the  travel- 
ler's restless  life  could  reach-— enjoyment  more  varied  and 
exciting,  but  far  less  serene  and  enduring  than  that  of  a  quiet 
home — ^but  here  I  have  reached  a  fountain  too  pure  and  power- 
ful to  be  exhausted.  I  never  before  experienced  such  a 
thorough  deliverance  from  all  the  petty  annoyances  of  travel  in 
other  lands,  such  perfect  contentment  of  spirit,  such  entire 
abandonment  to  the  best  influences  of  nature.  Every  day  opens 
with  a  jubilate,  and  closes  with  a  thanksgiving.  If  such  a 
balm  and  blessing  as  this  life  has  been  to  me,  thus  far,  can  be 
felt  twice  in  one's  existence,  there  must  be  another  Nile  some- 
where in  the  world. 


INDEPENDENCE    OF    NILE    LIFE.  87 

Other  travellers  undoubtedly  make  other  experiences  and 
take  away  other  impressions.  I  can  even  conceive  circumstan- 
ces which  would  almost  destroy  the  pleasure  of  the  journey. 
The  same  exquisitely  sensitive  temperament  which  in  our  case 
has  not  been  disturbed  by  a  single  untoward  incident,  might 
easily  be  kept  in  a  state  of  constant  derangement  by  an  unsym- 
pathetic companion,  a  cheating  dragoman,  or  a  fractious  crew. 
There  are  also  many  trifling  desagremens,  inseparable  from 
life  in  Egypt,  which  some  would  consider  a  source  of  annoy- 
ance ;  but  as  we  find  fewer  than  we  were  prepared  to  meet,  we 
are  not  troubled  thereby.  Our  enjoyment  springs  from  causes 
so  few  and  simple,  that  I  scarcely  know  how  to  make  them 
suffice  for  the  effect,  to  those  who  have  never  visited  the  Nile. 
It  may  be  interesting  to  such  to  be  made  acquainted  with  our 
manner  of  living,  in  detail 

In  the  first  place,  we  are  as  independent  of  all  organized 
Governments  as  a  ship  on  the  open  sea.  (The  Arabs  call  the 
Nile  El  hahr,  "  the  sea.")  We  are  on  board  our  own  char- 
tered vessel,  which  must  go  where  we  list,  the  captain  and 
sailors  being  strictly  bound  to  obey  us.  We  sail  under  nation- 
al colors,  make  our  own  laws  for  the  time  being,  are  ourselves 
the  only  censors  over  our  speech  and  conduct,  and  shall  have 
no  communication  with  the  authorities  on  shore,  unless  our 
subjects  rebel.  Of  this  we  have  no  fear,  for  we  commenced 
by  maintaining  strict  discipline,  and  as  we  make  no  unreason- 
able demands,  are  always  cheerfully  obeyed.  Indeed,  the 
most  complete  harmony  exists  between  the  rulers  and  the  ruled, 
and  though  our  government  is  the  purest  form  of  despotism, 
we  flatter  ourselves  that  it  is  better  managed  than  that  of  the 
Model  Republic. 


88  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

Our  territory,  to  be  sure,  is  not  very  extensive.  The  Cleo* 
patra  is  a  dahahiyehj  seventy  feet  long  by  ten  broad.  She 
has  two  short  masts  in  the  bow  and  stern,  the  first  upholding 
the  irin/ceet,  a  lateen  sail  nearly  seventy  feet  in  length.  The 
latter  carries  the  helikon^  a  small  sail,  and  the  American  col- 
ors. The  narrow  space  around  the  foremast  belongs  to  the  crew, 
who  cook  their  meals  in  a  small  brick  furnace,  and  sit  on  the 
gunwale,  beating  a  drum  and  tambourine  and  singing  for  hours 
in  interminable  choruses,  when  the  wind  blows  fair.  If  there 
is  no  wind,  half  of  them  are  on  shore,  tugging  us  slowly  along 
the  banks  with  a  long  tow-rope,  and  singing  all  day  long :  '-'•  Aya 
kamdm — ay  a  hamdm  /  "  If  we  strike  on  a  sand-bank,  they 
jump  into  the  river  and  put  their  shoulders  against  the  hull, 
singing :  "  hay-haylee  sah  !  "  If  the  current  is  slow,  they  ship 
the  oars  and  pull  us  up  stream,  singing  so  complicated  a  refrain 
that  it  is  impossible  to  write  it  with  other  than  Arabic  charac- 
ters. There  are  eight  men  and  a  boy,  besides  our  stately  rais, 
Hassan  Abd  el-Sadek,  and  the  swarthy  pilot,  who  greets  ua 
every  morning  with  a  whole  round  of  Arabic  salutations. 

Against  an  upright  pole  which  occupies  the  place  of  a  main- 
mast, stands  our  kitchen,  a  high  wooden  box,  with  three  fur- 
naces. Here  our  cook,  Salame,  may  be  seen  at  all  times,  with 
the  cowl  of  a  blue  capote  drawn  over  his  turban,  preparing  the 
marvellous  dishes,  wherein  his  delight  is  not  less  than  ours. 
Salame,  like  a  skilful  artist,  as  he  is,  husbands  his  resources, 
and  each  day  astonishes  us  with  new  preparations,  so  that,  out 
of  few  materials,  he  has  attained  the  grand  climax  of  all  art — 
variety  in  unity.  Achmet,  my  faithful  dragoman,  has  his  sta- 
tion here,  and  keeps  one  eye  on  the  vessel  and  one  on  the  kitchen, 
while  between  tlie  two  he  does  not  relax  his  protecting  care  for 


THE    CABIN.  89 

US.  The  approach  to  the  cabin  is  flanked  by  our  provision  chests, 
which  will  also  serve  as  a  breastwork  in  case  of  foreign  aggres- 
sion. A  huge  filter-jar  of  porous  earthenware  stands  against 
the  back  of  the  kitchen.  We  keep  our  fresh  butter  and  vege- 
tables in  a  box  under  it,  where  the  sweet  Nile-water  drips  cool 
and  clear  into  an  earthen  basin.  Our  bread  and  vegetables,  in 
an  open  basket  of  palm-blades,  are  suspended  beside  it,  and  the 
roof  of  the  cabin  supports  our  poultry-yard  and  pigeon-house. 
Sometimes  (but  not  often)  a  leg  of  mutton  may  be  seen  hang- 
ing from  the  ridge-pole,  which  extends  over  the  deck  as  a  sup- 
port to  the  awning. 

The  cabin,  or  Mansion  of  the  Executive  Powers,  is  about 
twenty-five  feet  long.  Its  floor  is  two  feet  below  the  deck,  and 
its  ceiling  five  feet  above,  so  that  we  are  not  cramped  or  crowd- 
ed in  any  particular.  Before  the  entrance  is  a  sort  of  portico, 
with  a  broad,  cushioned  seat  on  each  side,  and  side-awnings  to 
shut  out  the  sun.  This  place  is  devoted  to  pipes  and  medita- 
tion. We  throw  up  the  awnings,  let  the  light  pour  in  on  all 
sides,  and  look  out  on  the  desert  mountains  while  we  inhale  the 
incense  of  the  East.  Our  own  main  cabin  is  about  ten  feet 
long,  and  newly  painted  of  a  brilliant  blue  color.  A  broad 
divan,  with  cushions,  extends  along  each  side,  serving  as  a  sofa 
by  day,  and  a  bed  by  night.  There  are  windows,  blinds,  and 
a  canvas  cover  at  the  sides,  so  that  we  can  regulate  our  light 
and  air  as  we  choose.  In  the  middle  of  the  cabin  is  our  table 
and  two  camp  stools,  while  shawls,  capotes,  pistols,  sabre  and 
gun  are  suspended  from  the  walls.  A  little  door  at  the  further 
end  opens  into  a  wash-room,  beyond  which  is  a  smaller  cabin 
with  beds,  which  we  have  alloted  to  Achmet's  use.  Our  cook 
Bleeps  on  deck,  with  his  head  against  the  provision  chest     The 


90  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

rais  and  pilot  sleep  on  the  roof  of  our  cabin,  -where  the  lattei 
sits  all  day,  holding  the  long  arm  of  the  rudder,  which  projects 
forward  over  the  cabin  from  the  high  end  of  the  stern. 

Our  manner  of  life  is  simple,  and  might  even  be  called 
monotonous,  but  we  have  never  found  the  greatest  variety  of 
landscape  and  incident  so  thoroughly  enjoyable.  The  scenery 
of  the  Nile,  thus  far,  scarcely  changes  from  day  to  day,  in  its 
forms  and  colors,  but  only  in  their  disposition  with  regard  to 
each  other.  The  shores  are  either  palm-groves,  fields  of  cane 
and  dourra,  young  wheat,  or  patches  of  bare  sand,  blown  out 
from  the  desert.  The  villages  are  all  the  same  agglomerations 
of  mud-walls,  the  tombs  of  the  Moslem  saints  are  the  same 
white  ovens,  and  every  individual  camel  and  buffalo  resembles 
its  neighbor  in  picturesque  ugliness.  The  Arabian  and  Libyan 
Mountains,  now  sweeping  so  far  into  the  foreground  that  their 
yellow  cliflfs  overhang  the  Nile,  now  receding  into  the  violet 
haze  of  the  horizon,  exhibit  little  difference  of  height,  hue, 
or  geological  formation.  Every  new  scene  is  the  turn  of 
a  kaleidoscope,  in  which  the  same  objects  are  grouped  in 
other  relations,  yet  always  characterized  by  the  most  perfect 
harmony.  These  slight,  yet  ever-renewing  changes,  are  to  us 
a  source  of  endless  delight.  Either  from  the  pure  atmosphere, 
the  healthy  life  we  lead,  or  the  accordant  tone  of  our  spirits, 
we  find  ourselves  unusually  sensitive  to  all  the  slightest  touches, 
the  most  minute  rays  of  that  grace  and  harmony  which  bathes 
every  landscape  in  cloudless  sunshine.  The  various  groupings 
of  the  palms,  the  shifting  of  the  blue  evening  shadows  on  the 
rose-hued  mountain  walls,  the  green  of  the  wheat  and  sugar- 
cane, the  windings  of  the  great  river,  the  alternations  of  wind  and 
calm — each  of  these  is  enough  to  content  us,  and  to  give  every 


MANNER    OF    LIVING.  91 

day  a  diflferent  charm  from  that  which  went  before.  We  meet 
contrary  winds,  calms  and  sand-banks  without  losing  our 
patience,  and  even  our  excitement  in  the  swiftness  and  grace 
with  which  our  vessel  scuds  before  the  north-wind  is  mingled 
with  a  regret  that  our  journey  is  drawing  so  much  the  more 
swiftly  to  its  close.  A  portion  of  the  old  Egyptian  repose 
seems  to  be  infused  into  our  natures,  and  lately,  when  I  saw 
my  face  in  a  mirror,  I  thought  I  perceived  in  its  features  some- 
thing of  the  patience  and  resignation  of  the  Sphinx. 

Although,  in  order  to  enjoy  this  life  as  much  as  possible, 
we  subject  ourselves  to  no  arbitrary  rules,  there  is  sufficient 
regularity  in  our  manner  of  living.  We  rise  before  the  sun, 
and  after  breathing  the  cool  morning  air  half  an  hour,  drink  a 
cup  of  coffee  and  go  ashore  for  a  walk,  unless  the  wind  is  very 
strong  in  our  favor.  My  friend,  who  is  an  enthusiastic  sports- 
man and  an  admirable  shot,  takes  his  fowling-piece,  and  I  my 
sketch-book  and  pistols.  We  wander  inland  among  the  fields 
of  wheat  and  dourra,  course  among  the  palms  and  acacias  for 
game,  or  visit  the  villages  of  the  Fellahs.  The  temperature, 
which  is  about  60°  in  the  morning,  rarely  rises  above  75°,  so 
that  we  have  every  day  three  or  four  hours  exercise  in  the  mild 
and  pure  air.  My  friend  always  brings  back  from  one  to  two 
dozen  pigeons,  while  I,  who  practise  with  my  pistol  on  such 
ignoble  game  as  hawks  and  vultures,  which  are  here  hardly  shy 
enough  to  shoot,  can  at  the  best  but  furnish  a  few  wing  fea 
thers  to  clean  our  pipes. 

It  is  advisable  to  go  armed  on  these  excursions,  though 
there  is  no  danger  of  open  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  people. 
Certain  neighborhoods,  as  that  of  Beni  Hassan,  are  in  bad 
repute,  but  the  depredations  of  the  inhabitants,  who  have  been 
disarmed  by  the  Government,  are  principally  confined  to  thiev- 


92  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

ing  and  other  petty  offences.  On  one  occasion  I  fell  in  with  a 
company  of  these  people,  who  demanded  my  tarboosh,  shoea 
and  shawl,  and  would  have  taken  them  had  I  not  been  armed. 
In  general,  we  have  found  the  Fellahs  very  friendly  and  well 
disposed.  They  greet  us  on  our  morning  walks  with  "  Sala^ 
mat !  "  and  "  Sdhah  el  Kheyr  !  "  and  frequently  accompany  us 
for  miles.  My  friend's  fowling-piece  often  brings  around  him 
all  the  men  and  boys  of  a  village,  who  follow  him  as  long  as  a 
pigeon  is  to  be  found  on  the  palm-trees.  The  certainty  of  his 
shot  excites  their  wonder.  "  Wallah !  "  they  cry ;  "  every 
time  the  Howadji  fires,  the  bird  drops."  The  fact  of  my  wear- 
ing a  tarboosh  and  white  turban  brings  upon  me  much  Arabic 
conversation,  which  is  somewhat  embarrassing,  with  my  imper- 
fect knowledge  of  the  language ;  but  a  few  words  go  a  great 
way.  The  first  day  I  adopted  this  head-dress  (which  is  conve- 
nient and  agreeable  in  every  respect),  the  people  saluted  mo 
with  "  good  morning,  0  Sidi ! "  (Sir,  or  Lord)  instead  of  the 
usual  "  good  morning,  0  Howadji ! "  {i.  e.  merchant,  as  the 
Franks  are  rather  contemptuously  designated  by  the  Arabs). 

For  this  climate  and  this  way  of  life,  the  Egyptian  costume 
is  undoubtedly  much  better  than  the  European.  It  is  light, 
cool,  and  does  not  impede  the  motion  of  the  limbs.  The  turban 
thoroughly  protects  the  head  against  the  sun,  and  shades  the 
eyes,  while  it  obstructs  the  vision  much  less  than  a  hat-brim. 
The  broad  silk  shawl  which  holds  up  the  baggy  trowsers,  shields 
the  abdomen  against  changes  of  temperature  and  tends  to  pre- 
vent diarrhoea,  which,  besides  ophthalmia,  is  the  only  ailment  the 
traveller  need  fear.  The  latter  disease  may  be  avoided  by 
bathing  the  face  in  cold  water  after  walking  or  any  exercise 
which  induces  perspiration.  I  have  followed  this  plan,  and 
though  my  eyes  are  exposed  daily  to  the  full  blaze  of  the  sou, 


PROGRAMME    OF    A    DAy's    LIFE.  99 


find  them  growing  stronger  and  clearer.  In  fact,  since  leaving 
the  invigorating  camp-life  of  California,  I  have  not  felt  the 
sensation  of  health  so  purely  as  now.  The  other  day,  to  the 
great  delight  of  our  sailors  and  the  inexhaustible  merriment  of 
my  friend,  I  donned  one  of  Achmet's  dresses.  Though  the 
4hort  Theban's  flowing  trowsers  and  embroidered  jacket  gave 
me  the  appearance  of  a  strapping  Turk,  who  had  grown  too 
fast  for  his  garments,  they  were  so  easy  and  convenient  in 
every  respect,  that  I  have  decided  to  un-Frank  myself  for  the 
remainder  of  the  journey. 

But  our  day  is  not  yet  at  an  end.  We  come  on  board 
about  eleven  o'clock,  and  find  our  breakfast  ready  for  the  table 
The  dishes  are  few,  but  well  cooked,  and  just  what  a  hungry 
man  would  desire-^fowls,  pigeons,  eggs,  rice,  vegetables,  fruit, 
the  coarse  but  nourishing  bread  of  the  country,  and  the  sweet 
water  of  the  Nile,  brought  to  a  blush  by  an  infusion  of  claret 
After  breakfast  we  seat  ourselves  on  the  airy  divans  in  front 
of  the  cabin,  and  quietly  indulge  in  the  luxury  of  a  shebook, 
filled  by  Achmet's  experienced  hand,  and  a  finjan  of  Turkish 
coffee.  Then  comes  an  hour's  exercise  in  Arabic,  after  whicn 
we  read  guide-books,  consult  our  maps,  write  letters,  and  occupy 
ourselves  with  various  mysteries  of  our  household,  till  the 
noonday  heat  is  over.  Dinner,  which  is  served  between  four 
and  five  o'clock,  is  of  the  same  materials  as  our  breakfast,  but 
differently  arranged,  and  with  the  addition  of  soup.  My  friend 
ftvers  that  he  no  longer  wonders  why  Esau  sold  his  birthright, 
now  that  h^  has  tasted  our  pottage  of  Egyptian  lentils.  Coffee 
and  pipes  follow  dinner,  which  is  over  with  the  first  flush  of 
sunset  and  the  first  premonition  of  the  coolness  and  quiet  of 
evening. 


94  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

We  seat  ourselves  on  deck,  and  drink  to  its  fulness  the 
balm  of  this  indescribable  repose.  The  sun  goes  down  behind 
the  Libyan  Desert  in  a  broad  glory  of  purple  and  rosy  lights ; 
the  Nile  is  calm  and  un^^'iffled,  the  palms  stand  as  if  sculptured 
in  jasper  and  malachite,  and  the  torn  and  ragged  sides  of  the 
Arabian  Mountains,  pouring  through  a  hundred  fissures  th*» 
sand  of  the  plains  above,  burn  with  a  deep  crimson  lustre,  ass 
if  smouldering  from  some  inward  fire.  The  splendor  soon 
passes  off  and  they  stand  for  some  minutes  in  dead,  ashy  pale- 
ness. The  sunset  has  now  deepened  into  orange,  in  the  midst 
of  which  a  large  planet  shines  whiter  than  the  moon.  A 
second  glow  falls  upon  the  mountains,  and  this  time  of  a  pale, 
but  intense  yellow  hue,  which  gives  them  the  effect  of  a  trans- 
parent painting.  The  palm-groves  are  dark  below  and  the  sky 
dark  behind  them ;  they  alone,  the  symbols  of  perpetual  deso- 
lation, are  transfigured  by  the  magical  illumination.  Scarcely 
a  sound  disturbs  the  solemn  magnificence  of  the  hour.  Even 
our  full-throated  Arabs  are  silent,  and  if  a  wave  gurgles 
against  the  prow,  it  slides  softly  back  into  the  river,  as  if  re- 
buked for  the  venture.  We  speak  but  little,  and  then  mostly 
in  echoes  of  each  other's  thoughts.  "  This  is  more  than  mere 
enjoyment  of  Nature,"  said  my  friend,  on  such  an  evening : 
"  it  is  worship." 

Speaking  of  my  friend,  it  is  no  more  than  just  that  I 
should  confess  how  much  of  the  luck  of  this  Nile  voyage  is 
owing  to  him,  and  therein  may  be  the  secret  of  my  complete 
satisfaction  and  the  secret  of  the  disappointment  of  others.  It 
is  more  easy  and  yet  more  difficult  for  persons  to  harmonize 
while  travelling,  than  when  at  home.  By  this  I  mean,  thai 
men  of  kindred  natures  and  aims  find  each  other  more  readily 


MY    COMRADE.  85 


and  confide  in  each  other  more  freely,  while  the  least  jarring 
element  rapidly  drives  others  further  and  further  apart.  No 
confessional  so  completely  reveals  the  whole  man  as  the  com- 
panionship of  travel.  It  is  not  possible  to  wear  the  conven- 
tional masks  of  Society,  and  one  repulsive  feature  is  often 
enough  to  neutralize  many  really  good  qualities.  On  Jbhe  other 
hand,  a  congeniality  of  soul  and  temperament  speedily  ripens 
into  the  firmest  friendship  and  doubles  every  pleasure  which  is 
mutually  enjoyed.  My  companion  widely  differs  from  me  in 
age,  in  station,  and  in  his  experiences  of  life ;  but  to  one  of 
those  open,  honest  and  loving  natures  which  are  often  found  in 
his  native  Saxony,  he  unites  a  most  warm  and  thorough  appre- 
ciation of  Beauty  in  Nature  or  Art.  We  harmonize  to  a  mir- 
acle, and  the  parting  with  him  at  Assouan  will  be  the  sorest 
oang  of  my  journey. 

My  friend,  the  Howadji,  in  whose  "Nile-Notes"  the 
Egyptian  atmosphere  is  so  perfectly  reproduced,  says  that 
"  Conscience  falls  asleep  on  the  Nile."  If  by  this  he  means 
that  artificial  quality  which  bigots  and  sectarians  call  Con- 
science, I  quite  agree  with  him,  and  do  not  blame  the  Nile  for 
its  soporific  powers.  But  that  simple  faculty  of  the  soul,  na- 
tive to  all  men,  which  acts  best  when  it  acts  unconsciously, 
and  leads  our  passions  and  desires  into  right  paths  without 
seeming  to  lead  them,  is  vastly  strengthened  by  this  quiet  and 
healthy  life.  There  is  a  cathedral-like  solemnity  in  the  air  of 
Egypt ;  one  feels  the  presence  of  the  altar,  and  is  a  better 
man  without  his  will.  To  those  rendered  misanthropic  by 
disappointed  ambition — ^mistrustful  by  betrayed  confidence — 
despairing  by  unassuageable  sorrow — ^let  me  repeat  the  motto 
which  heads  this  chapter. 


96  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

I  have  endeavored  to  picture  our  mode  of  life  as  faithfully 
and  minutely  as  possible,  because  it  bears  no  resemblance  to 
travel  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  Into  the  neart  of  a 
barbarous  continent  and  a  barbarous  land,  we  carry  with  us 
every  desirable  comfort  and  luxury.  In  no  part  of  Europe  or 
America  could  we  be  so  thoroughly  independent,  without  un- 
dergoing considerable  privations,  and  wholly  losing  that  sense 
of  rest  which  is  the  greatest  enjoyment  of  this  journey.  We 
are  cut  off  from  all  communication  with  the  great  world  of 
politics,  merchandise  and  usury,  and  remember  it  only  through 
the  heart,  not  through  the  brain.  We  go  ashore  in  the  deli- 
cious mornings,  breathe  the  elastic  air,  and  wander  through 
the  palm-groves,  as  happy  and  care-free  as  two  Adams  in  a 
Paradise  without  Eves.  It  is  an  episode  which  will  flow  for- 
ward in  the  under-currents  of  our  natures  through  the  rest  of 
our  lives,  soothing  and  refreshing  us  whenever  it  rises  to  the 
surface.  I  do  not  reproach  myself  for  this  passive  and  sensu- 
ous existence.  I  give  myself  up  to  it  unreservedly,  and  if 
some  angular-souled  utilitarian  should  come  along  and  recom 
mend  me  to  shake  off  my  laziness,  and  learn  the  conjugations 
of  Coptic  verbs  or  the  hieroglyphs  of  Kneph  and  Thoth,  I 
should  not  take  the  pipe  from  my  mouth  to  answer  him.  My 
friend  sometimes  laughingly  addresses  me  with  two  lines  of 
Hebel  s  quaint  Allemanic  poetry  : 

"  Ei  Bolch  a  Leben,  junges  Bluat, 
Desh  ish  wohl  fiir  a  Thierle  guat." 

(such  a  life,  young  blood,  best  befits  an  animal),  but  I  tell  him 
that  the  wisdom  of  the  Black  Forest  won't  answer  for  the 
Nile,     If  any  one  persists  in  forcing  the  application,  I  prefer 


OBSERVATION    VS.   DESCRIPTION. 


m 


being  called  an  animal  to  changing  my  present  Habits.  An 
entire  life  so  spent  would  be  wretchedly  aimless,  but  a  few 
months  are  in  truth  "  sore  labor's  bath  "  to  every  wrung  heart 
and  overworked  brain. 

I  could  say  much  more,  but  it  requires  no  little  effort  to 
write  three  hours  in  a  cabin,  when  the  palms  are  rustling  their 
tops  outside,  the  larks  singing  in  the  meadows,  and  the  odor  of 
mimosa  flowers  breathing  through  the  windows.  To  travel  and 
write,  is  like  inhaling  and  exhaling  one's  breath  at  the  same 
moment.  You  take  in  impressions  at  every  pore  of  the  mind, 
and  the  process  is  so  pleasant,  that  you  sweat  them  out  again 
most  reluctantly.  Lest  I  should  overtake  the  remedy  with 
the  disease,  and  make  to-day  Labor,  which  should  he  Rest,  1 
shall  throw  down  the  pen,  and  mount  yonder  donkey,  which 
stands  patiently  on  the  bank,  waiting  to  carry  me  to  Siout 
once  more,  before  starting  for  Thebe". 


98  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL   AFRICA. 


CHAPTER     VIII. 

UPPEREGYPT. 
A 

Calm— Mountains  and  Tombs— A  Night  Adventure  in  Ekhmin— Cliaracter  of  ihi 
Boatmen— Fair  Wind— Pilgrims— Egyptian  Agriculture— Sugar  and  Cotton— Groin 
—Sheep — Arrival  at  Kenneh— A  Landscape— The  Temple  of  Dendera— First  Im- 
pressions of  Egyptian  Art— Portrait  of  Cleoi»atra— A  Happy  Meeting — We  approach 
Thebes. 

Our  men  were  ready  at  the  appointed  time,  and  precisely 
twenty-four  hours  after  reaching  the  port  of  Siout  we  spread 
our  sails  for  Kenneh,  and  exchanged  a  parting  salute  with  the 
boat  of  a  New  York  physician,  which  arrived  some  hours  after 
us.  The  no&th  wind,  which  had  been  blowing  freshly  during 
the  whole  of  our  stay,  failed  us  almost  within  sight  of  the  port, 
and  was  followed  by  three  days  of  breathless  calm,  during 
which  time  we  made  about  twelve  miles  a  day,  by  towing. 
My  friend  and  I  spent  half  the  time  on  shore,  wandering  in- 
land through  the  fields  and  making  acquaintances  in  the  vil- 
lages. We  found  such  tours  highly  interesting  and  refreshing, 
but  nevertheless  always  returned  to  our  floating  Castle  of  In- 
dolence, doubly  delighted  with  its  home-like  cabin  and  lazy  di- 
vans. Many  of  the  villages  in  this  region  are  built  among  the 
mounds  of  ancient  cities,  the  names  whereof  are  faithfully  enu- 
merated in  the  guide-book,  but  as  the  cities  themselves  have 


MOUNTAINS,    TOMBS    AND    RUINS.  0ft 

wholly  disappeared,  we  were  spared  the  necessity  of  seeking 
for  their  ruins. 

On  the  third  night  after  leaving  Siout,  we  passed  the  vil- 
lage of  Grow  el-Kebir,  the  ancient  Antaeopolis,  whose  beautiful 
temple  has  been  entirely  destroyed  during  the  last  twenty-five 
years,  partly  washed  away  by  the  Nile  and  partly  pulled  down 
to  furnish  materials  for  the  Pasha's  palace  at  Siout.  Near 
this  the  famous  battle  between  Hercules  and  Antaeus  is  re- 
ported to  have  taken  place.  The  fable  of  Antaeus  drawing 
strength  from  the  earth  appears  quite  natural,  after  one  haa 
seen  the  fatness  of  the  soil  of  Upper  Egypt.  We  ran  the 
gauntlet  of  Djebel  Shekh  Hereedee,  a  mountain  similar  to 
Aboufayda  in  form,  but  much  more  lofty  and  imposing.  It 
has  also  its  legend :  A  miraculous  serpent,  say  the  Arabs,  has 
lived  for  centuries  in  its  caverns,  and  possesses  the  power  of 
healing  diseases.  All  these  mountains,  on  the  eastern  bank 
of  the  Nile,  are  pierced  with  tombs,  and  the  openings  are 
sometimes  so  frequent  and  so  near  to  each  other  as  to  resem- 
ble a  colonnade  along  the  rocky  crests.  They  rarely  contain 
inscriptions,  and  many  of  them  were  inhabited  by  hermits  and 
holy  men,  during  the  early  ages  of  Christianity.  At  the  most 
accessible  points  the  Egyptians  have  commenced  limestone 
quarries,  and  as  they  are  more  concerned  in  preserving  piastres 
than  tombs,  their  venerable  ancestors  are  dislodged  without 
scruple.  Whoever  is  interested  in  Egyptian  antiquities, 
should  not  postpone  his  visit  longer.  Not  only  Turks,  but 
Europeans  are  engaged  in  the  work  of  demolition,  and  the  very 
antiquarians  who  profess  the  greatest  enthusiasm  for  these 
monuments,  are  ruthless  Vandals  towards  them  when  they 
have  the  power. 


100  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

We  dashed  past  the  mountain  of  Shekh  Hereedee  in  gal- 
lant style,  and  the  same  night,  after  dusk,  reached  Ekhmin, 
the  ancient  Panopolis.  This  was  one  of  the  oldest  cities  in 
Egypt,  and  dedicated  to  the  Phallic  worship,  whose  first  sym* 
bol,  the  obelisk,  has  now  a  purely  monumental  significance 
A  few  remnants  of  this  singular  ancient  faith  appear  to  be  re- 
tained among  the  modern  inhabitants  of  Ekhmin,  but  only  in 
the  grossest  superstitions,  and  without  reference  to  the  ab- 
stract creative  principle  typified  by  the  Phallic  emblems. 
The  early  Egyptians  surrounded  with  mystery  and  honored 
with  all  religious  solemnity  what  they  regarded  as  the  highest 
human  miracle  wrought  by  the  power  of  their  gods,  and  in  a 
philosophical  point  of  view,  there  is  no  branch  of  their  com- 
plex faith  more  interesting  than  this. 

As  we  sat  on  the  bank  in  the  moonlight,  quietly  smoking 
our  pipes,  the  howling  of  a  company  of  dervishes  sounded  from 
the  town,  whose  walls  are  a  few  hundred  paces  distant  from 
the  river.  We  inquired  of  the  guard  whether  a  Frank  dare 
visit  them.  He  could  not  tell,  but  offered  to  accompany  me 
and  try  to  procure  an  entrance.  I  took  Achmet  and  two  of 
our  sailors,  donned  a  Bedouin  capote,  and  set  out  in  search  of 
the  dervishes.  The  principal  gate  of  the  town  was  closed,  and 
my  men  battered  it  vainly  with  their  clubs,  to  rouse  the  guard 
We  wandered  for  some  time  among  the  mounds  of  Panopolis, 
stumbling  over  blocks  of  marble  and  granite,  under  palms 
eighty  feet  high,  standing  clear  and  silvery  in  the  moonlight. 
At  last,  the  clamor  of  the  wolfish  dogs  we  waked  up  on  the 
road,  brought  us  one  of  the  watchers  outside  of  the  walls, 
whom  we  requested  to  admit  us  into  the  city.  He  replied 
that  this  could  not  be  done.     "  But,"  said  Achmet,  "  here  is 


A    NIGHT    ADVENTURE.  ^  101 

Ml  Eflfendi  wlio  has  just  arrived,  and  must  visit  the  moUahs 
to-night ;  admit  him  and  fear  nothing."  The  men  thereupon 
conducted  us  to  another  gate  and  threw  a  few  pebbles  against 
the  window  above  it.  A  woman's  voice  replied,  and  presently 
the  bolts  were  undrawn  and  we  entered.  By  this  time  the 
dervishes  had  ceased  their  bowlings,  and  every  thing  was  as 
still  as  death.  We  walked  for  half  an  hour  through  the  de- 
serted streets,  visited  the  mosques  and  public  buildings,  and 
heard  no  sound  but  our  own  steps.  It  was  a  strangely  inter- 
esting promenade.  The  Arabs,  armed  with  clubs,  carried  a 
paper  lantern,  which  flickered  redly  on  the  arches  and  courts 
we  passed  through.  My  trusty  Theban  walked  by  my^ide, 
and  took  all  possible  trouble  to  find  the  retreat  of  the  der- 
vishes— ^but  in  vain.  We  passed  out  through  the  gate,  which 
was  instantly  locked  behind  us,  and  had  barely  reached  our 
vessel,  when  the  unearthly  song  of  the  Moslem  priests,  louder 
and  wilder  than  ever,  came  to  our  ears. 

The  prejudice  of  the  Mohammedans  against  the  Christians 
is  wearing  away  with  their  familiarity  with  the  Frank  dress 
and  their  adoption  of  Frankish  vices.  The  Prophet's  injunc- 
tion against  wine  is  heeded  by  few  of  his  followers,  or  avoided 
by  drinking  arakee,  a  liquor  distilled  from  dates  and  often  fla- 
vored with  hemp.  Their  conscience  is  generally  satisfied  with 
a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  and  the  daily  performance  of  the  pre- 
scribed prayers,  though  the  latter  is  often  neglected.  All  of 
my  sailors  were  very  punctual  in  this  respect,  spreading  their 
carpets  on  the  forward  deck,  and  occupying  an  hour  or  two 
every  day  with  genuflexions,  prostrations,  and  salutations  to- 
ward Mecca,  the  direction  of  which  they  never  lost,  notwith- 
standing the  windings  of  the  Nile.     In  the  cathedrals  of  Chrie* 


102  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

tian  Europe  I  have  often  seen  pantomimes  quite  as  unnece* 
sary,  performed  with  less  apparent  reverence.  The  people  of 
Egypt  are  fully  as  honest  and  well-disposed  as  the  greater 
part  of  the  Italian  peasantry.  They  sometimes  deceive  in 
small  things,  and  are  inclined  to  take  trifling  advantages,  but 
that  is  the  natural  result  of  living  under  a  government  whose 
only  rule  is  force,  and  which  does  not  even  hesitate  to  use 
fraud.  Their  good  humor  is  inexhaustible.  A  single  friendly 
word  wins  them,  and  even  a  little  severity  awakes  no  lasting 
feeling  of  revenge.  I  should  much  rather  trust  myself  alone 
among  the  Egyptian  Fellahs,  than  among  the  peasants  of  the 
Campagna,  or  the  boors  of  Carinthia.  Notwithstanding  our 
men  had  daily  opportunities  of  plundering  us,  we  never  missed 
a  single  article.  We  frequently  went  ashore  with  our  drago- 
man, leaving  every  thing  in  the  cabin  exposed,  and  especially 
such  articles  as  tobacco,  shot,  dates,  &c.,  which  would  most 
tempt  an  Arab,  yet  our  confidence  was  never  betrayed.  We 
often  heard  complaints  from  travellers  in  other  boats,  but  I 
am  satisfied  that  any  one  who  will  enforce  obedience  at  the 
start,  and  thereafter  give  none  but  just  and  reasonable  com- 
mands, need  have  no  difficulty  with  his  crew. 

The  next  morning,  the  wind  being  light,  we  walked  for- 
ward to  El  Menschieh,  a  town  about  nine  miles  distant  from 
Ekhmin.  It  was  market-day,  and  the  bazaar  was  crowded 
with  the  countrymen,  who  had  brought  their  stock  of  grain, 
sugar-cane  and  vegetables.  The  men  were  taller  and  more 
muscular  than  in  Lower  Egypt,  and  were  evidently  descended 
from  a  more  intelligent  and  energetic  stock.  They  looked  at 
us  curiously,  but  with  a  sort  of  friendly  interest,  and  cour- 
teously made  way  for  us  as  we  passed  through  the  narrow  ba- 


EGYPTIAN    AORICULTURK.  103 

zaar.  In  the  afternoon  the  wind  increased  to  a  small  gale,  and 
bore  us  rapidly  past  Gebel  Tookh  to  the  city  of  Girgehj  so 
named  in  Coptic  times  from  the  Christian  saint,  George. 
Like  Manfalout,  it  has  been  half  washed  away  by  the  Nile, 
and  two  lofty  minarets  were  hanging  on  the  brink  of  the  slip- 
pery bank,  awaiting  their  turn  to  fall.  About  twelve  miles 
from  Girgeh,  in  the  Libyan  Desert,  are  the  ruins  of  Abydus, 
now  covered  by  the  sand,  except  the  top  of  the  portico  and 
roof  of  the  temple-palace  of  Sesostris,  and  part  of  the  temple 
of  Osiris.  We  held  a  council  whether  we  should  waste  the 
favorable  wind  or  miss  Abydus,  and  the  testimony  of  Achmet, 
who  had  visited  the  ruins,  having  been  taken,  we  chose  the 
latter  alternative.  By  this  time  Girgeh  was  nearly  out  of 
sight,  and  we  comforted  ourselves  with  the  hope  of  soon  see- 
ing Dendera. 

The  pilgrims  to  Mecca,  by  the  Kenneh  and  Kosseir  route, 
were  on  their  return,  and  we  met  a  number  of  boats,  crowded 
with  them,  on  their  way  to  Cairo  from  the  former  place. 
Most  of  the  boats  carried  the  red  flag,  with  the  star  and  cres- 
cent. On  the  morning  after  leaving  Girgeh,  we  took  a  long 
stroll  through  the  fields  of  Farshoot,  which  is,  after  Siout,  the 
richest  agricultural  district  of  Upper  Egypt.  An  excellent 
system  of  irrigation,  by  means  of  canals,  is  kept  up,  and  the 
result  shows  what  might  be  made  of  Egypt,  were  its  great  nat- 
ural resources  rightly  employed.  The  Nile  offers  a  perpetual 
fountain  of  plenty  and  prosperity,  and  its  long  valley,  from 
Nubia  to  the  sea,  would  become,  in  other  hands,  the  garden  of 
the  world.  So  rich  and  pregnant  a  soil  I  have  never  seen. 
Here,  side  by  side,  flourish  wheat,  maize,  cotton,  sugar-cane, 
indigo,  hemp,  rice,  dourra,  tobacco,  olives,  dates,  oranges,  and 


104  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

the  yegetablcs  and  fruits  of  nearly  every  climate.  The  wheat, 
which,  in  November,  we  found  young  and  green,  would  in 
March  be  ripe  for  the  sickle,  and  the  people  were  cutting  and 
threshing  fields  of  dourra,  which  they  had  planted  towards  the 
end  of  summer.  Except  where  the  broad  meadows  are  first  re- 
claimed from  the  rank,  tufted  grass  which  has  taken  posses- 
sion of  them,  the  wheat  is  sowed  upon  the  ground,  and  then 
ploughed  in  by  a  sort  of  crooked  wooden  beam,  shod  with  iron, 
and  drawn  by  two  camels  or  buffaloes.  I  saw  no  instance  in 
which  the  soil  was  manured.  The  yearly  deposit  made  by  the 
bountiful  river  seems  to  be  sufficient.  The  natives,  it  is  true, 
possess  immense  numbers  of  pigeons,  and  every  village  is 
adorned  with  towers,  rising  above  the  mud  huts  like  the  py- 
lons of  temples,  and  inhabited  by  these  birds.  The  manure 
collected  from  them  is  said  to  be  used,  but  probably  only  in 
the  culture  of  melons,  cucumbers,  and  other  like  vegetables 
with  which  the  gardens  are  stocked. 

The  fields  of  sugar-cane  about  Farshoot  were  the  richest  I 
saw  in  Egypt.  Near  the  village,  which  is  three  miles  from  the 
Nile,  there  is  a  steam  sugar-refinery,  established  by  Ibrahim 
Pasha,  who  seems  to  have  devoted  much  attention  to  the  cul- 
ture of  cane,  with  a  view  to  his  own  profit.  There  are  several 
of  these  manufactories  along  the  Nile,  and  the  most  of  them 
were  in  full  operation,  as  we  passed.  At  Kadamoon,  between 
Minyeh  and  Siout,  there  is  a  large  manufactory,  where  the 
common  coarse  sugar  made  in  the  Fellah  villages  is  refined  and 
sent  to  Cairo.  We  made  use  of  this  sugar  in  our  household, 
and  found  it  to  be  of  excellent  quality,  though  coarser  than 
that  of  the  American  manufactories.  The  culture  of  cotton 
has  not  been  so  successful.     The  large  and  handsome  manufao- 


■m 

VEGETABLES    AND    GRAIK  106 

tory  built  at  Kenneh,  is  no  longer  in  operation,  and  the  fields 
which  we  saw  there,  had  a  forlorn,  neglected  appearance.  The 
plants  grow  luxuriantly,  and  the  cotton  is  of  fine  quality,  but 
the  pods  are  small  and  not  very  abundant.  About  Siout,  and 
in  Middle  and  Lower  Egypt,  we  saw  many  fields  of  indigo, 
which  is  said  to  thrive  well.  Peas,  beans  and  lentils  are  cul- 
tivated to  a  great  extent,  and  form  an  important  item  of  the 
food  of  the  inhabitants.  The  only  vegetables  we  could  procure 
for  our  kitchen,  were  onions,  radishes,  lettuce  and  spinage. 
The  Arabs  are  very  fond  of  the  tops  of  radishes,  and  eat  them 
with  as  much  relish  as  their  donkeys. 

One  of  the  principal  staples  of  Egypt  is  the  dourra  {holcus 
sorghum),  which  resembles  the  jzea  (maize)  in  many  respects 
In  appearance,  it  is  very  like  broom-corn,  but  instead  of 
the  long,  loose  panicle  of  red  seeds,  is  topped  by  a  compact  cone 
of  grains,  smaller  than  those  of  maize,  but  resembling  them  in 
form  and  taste.  The  stalks  are  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  high, 
and  the  heads  frequently  contain  as  much  substance  as  two  ears 
of  maize.  It  is  planted  in  close  rows,  and  when  ripe  is  cut  by 
the  hand  with  a  short  sickle,  after  which  the  heads  are  taken 
off  and  threshed  separately.  The  grain  is  fed  to  horses,  don- 
keys and  fowls,  and  in  Upper  Egypt  is  used  almost  universally 
for  bread.  It  is  of  course  very  imperfectly  ground,  and  unbolt- 
ed, and  the  bread  is  coarse  and  dark,  though  nourishing.  In 
the  Middle  and  Southern  States  of  America  this  grain  would 
thrive  well  and  might  be  introduced  with  advantage. 

The  plains  of  coarse,  wiry  grass  (half  eh),  which  in  many 

points  on  the  Nile  show  plainly  the  neglect  of  the  inhabitants, 

who  by  a  year's  labor  might  convert  them  into  blooming  fields, 

are  devoted  to  the  pasturage  of  large  herds  of  sheep,  and  goats, 

5* 


106  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

and  sometimes  droves  of  buffaloes.  The  sheep  are  all  black  oi 
dark-brown,  and  their  bushy  heads  remind  one  of  terrors . 
The  wool  is  rather  coarse,  and  when  roughly  spun  and  woven 
by  the  Arabs,  in  its  natural  color,  forms  the  mantle,  something 
like  a  Spanish  poncho,  which  is  usually  the  Fellah's  only  gar- 
ment. The  mutton,  almost  the  only  meat  to  be  found,  is  gen- 
erally lean,  and  brings  a  high  price,  considering  the  abundance 
of  sheep.  The  flesh  of  buffaloes  is  eaten  by  the  Arabs,  but  is 
too  tough,  and  has  too  rank  a  flavor,  for  Christian  stomachs. 
The  goats  are  beautiful  animals,  with  heads  as  slender  and 
delicate  as  those  of  gazelles.  They  have  short,  black  horns, 
curving  downward — long,  silky  ears,  and  a  peculiarly  mild  and 
friendly  expression  of  countenance.  We  had  no  difficulty  in 
procuring  milk  in  the  villages,  and  sometimes  fresh  butter, 
which  was  more  agreeable  to  the  taste  than  the  sight.  The  mode 
of  churning  is  not  calculated  to  excite  one's  appetite.  The 
milk  is  tied  up  in  a  goat's  skin,  and  suspended  by  a  rope  to 
the  branch  of  a  tree.  One  of  the  Arab  housewives  (who  are 
all  astonishingly  ugly  and  filthy)  then  stations  herself  on  one 
side,  and  propels  it  backward  and  forward  till  the  process  is 
completed.  The  cheese  of  the  country  resembles  a  mixture  of 
sand  and  slacked  lime,  and  has  an  abomirable  flavor. 

Leaving  Farshoot,  we  swept  rapidly  past  Haou,  the  ancient 
Diospolis  pawa,  or  Little  Thebes,  of  which  nothing  is  left  but 
some  heaps  of  dirt,  sculptured  fragments,  and  the  tomb  of  a 
certain  Dionysius,  son  of  a  certain  Ptolemy.  The  course  of 
the  mountains,  which  follow  the  Nile,  is  here  nearly  east  and 
west,  as  the  river  makes  a  long  curve  to  the  eastward  on  ap- 
proaching Kenneh.  The  valley  is  inclosed  within  narrower 
bounds,  and  the  Arabian  Mountains  on  the  north,  shooting  out 


107 


into  bold  promontories  from  the  main  chain,  sometimes  rise 
from  the  water's  edge  in  bluffs  many  hundred  feet  in  height. 
The  good  wind,  which  had  so  befriended  us  for  three  days,  fol- 
lowed us  all  night,  and  when  we  awoke  on  the  morning  of  De- 
cember 4th,  our  vessel  lay  at  anchor  in  the  port  of  Kenneh, 
having  beaten  by  four  hours  the  boat  of  our  American  friend, 
which  was  reputed  to  be  one  of  the  swiftest  on  the  river. 

Kenneh,  which  lies  about  a  mile  east  of  the  river,  is  cele- 
brated for  the  manufacture  of  porous  water-jars,  and  is  an  infe- 
rior mart  of  trade  with  Persia  and  India,  by  means  of  Kosseir, 
on  the  Red  Sea,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  distant.  The 
town  is  large,  but  mean  in  aspect,  and  does  not  offer  a  single 
object  of  interest.  It  lies  in  the  centre  of  a  broad  plain.  We 
rode  through  the  bazaars,  which  were  tolerably  well  stocked 
and  crowded  with  hadji^  or  pilgrims  of  Mecca.  My  friend, 
who  wished  to  make  a  flag  of  the  Saxe-Goburg  colors,  for  his 
return  voyage,  tried  in  vain  to  procure  a  piece  of  green  cotton 
cloth.  Every  other  color  was  to  be  had  but  green,  which,  as 
the  sacred  hue,  worn  only  by  the  descendants  of  Mohammed, 
was  nowhere  to  be  found.  He  was  finally  obliged  to  buy  a 
piece  of  white  stuff  and  have  it  specially  dyed.  It  came  back 
the  same  evening,  precisely  the  color  of  the  Shereef  of  Mecca^s 
turban. 

On  the  western  bank  of  the  Nile,  opposite  Kenneh,  is  the 
site  of  the  city  of  Tentyra,  famed  for  its  temple  of  Athor. 
It  is  now  called  Dendera,  from  the  modern  Arab  village. 
After  breakfast,  we  shipped  ourselves  and  our  donkeys  across 
the  Nile,  and  rode  off  in  high  excitement,  to  make  our  first 
acquaintance  with  Egyptian  temples  The  path  led  through  a 
palm  grove,  which  in  richness  and  Deauty  rivalle4  t-feose  of  th» 


108  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

Mexican  tierra  caliente.  The  lofty  shafts  of  the  date  and  the 
vaulted  foliage  of  the  doum-palm,  blended  in  the  most  pictn- 
resque  groupage,  contrasted  with  the  lace-like  texture  of  the 
flowering  mimosa,  and  the  cloudy  boughs  of  a  kind  of  gray  cy- 
press. The  turf  under  the  trees  was  soft  and  green,  and  between 
the  slim  trunks  we  looked  over  the  plain,  to  the  Libyan  Moun- 
tains— a  long  train  of  rosy  lights  and  violet  shadows.  Out  of 
this  lovely  wood  we  passed  between  magnificent  fields  of  dourra 
and  the  castor-oil  bean,  fifteen  feet  in  height,  to  a  dyke  which 
crossed  the  meadows  to  Dendera.  The  leagues  of  rank  grass  on 
our  right  rolled  away  to  the  Desert  in  shining  billows,  and  the 
fresh  west- wind  wrapped  us  in  a  bath  of  intoxicating  odors.  In 
the  midst  of  this  green  and  peaceful  plain  rose  the  earthy 
mounds  of  Tentyra,  and  the  portico  of  the  temple,  almost  buried 
beneath  them,  stood  like  a  beacon,  marking  the  boundary  of  the 
Desert. 

We  galloped  our  little  animals  along  the  dyke,  over  heaps 
of  dirt  and  broken  bricks,  among  which  a  number  of  Arabs 
were  burrowing  for  nitrous  earth,  and  dismounted  at  a  small 
pylon,  which  stands  two  or  three  hundred  paces  in  front  of  the 
temple.  The  huge  jambs  of  sandstone,  covered  with  sharply 
cut  hieroglyphics  and  figures  of  the  Egyptian  gods,  and  sur- 
mounted by  a  single  block,  bearing  the  mysterious  winged  globe 
and  serpent,  detained  us  but  a  moment,  and  we  hurried  down 
what  was  once  the  dromos  of  the  temple,  now  represented  by  a 
double  wall  of  unburnt  bricks.  The  portico,  more  than  a  hundred 
feet  in  length,  and  supported  by  six  columns,  united  by  screens 
of  masonry,  no  stone  of  which,  or  of  the  columns  themselves,  is 
unsculptured,  is  massive  and  imposing,  but  struck  me  as  be'ng 
too  depressed  to  produce  a  very  grand  effect.     What  was  my 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  DENDERA.  109 

astonishment,  on  arriving  at  the  entrance,  to  find  that  I  had 
approached  the  temple  on  a  level  with  half  its  height,  and  that 
the  pavement  of  the  portico  was  as  far  below  as  the  scrolls  of 
its  cornice  were  above  me.  The  six  columns  I  had  seen  cover- 
ed three  other  rows,  of  six  each,  all  adorned  with  the  most 
elaborate  sculpture  and  exhibiting  traces  of  the  brilliant  color- 
ing which  they  once  possessed.  The  entire  temple,  which  is  in 
an  excellent  state  of  preservation,  except  where  the  hand  of  the 
Coptic  Christian  has  defaced  its  sculptures,  was  cleaned  out  by 
order  of  Mohammed  Ali,  and  as  all  its  chambers,  as  well  as 
the  roof  of  enormous  sand-stone  blocks,  are  entire,  it  is  consid- 
ered one  of  the  most  complete  relics  of  Egyptian  art. 

I  find  my  pen  at  fault,  when  I  attempt  to  describe  the  im- 
pression produced  by  the  splendid  portico.  The  twenty-four 
columns,  each  of  which  is  sixty  feet  in  height,  and  eight  feet  in 
diameter,  crowded  upon  a  surface  of  one  hundred  feet  by 
seventy,  are  oppressive  in  their  grandeur.  The  dim  light, 
admitted  through  the  half  closed  front,  which  faces  the  north, 
spreads  a  mysterious  gioum  around  these  mighty  shafts,  crown- 
ed with  the  fourfold  visage  of  Athor,  still  rebuking  the  im- 
pious hands  that  have  marred  her  solemn  beauty.  On  the 
walls,  between  columns  of  hieroglyphics,  and  the  cartouches  of 
the  Caesars  and  the  Ptolemies,  appear  the  principal  Egyptian 
deities — the  rigid  Osiris,  the  stately  Isis  and  the  hawk-headed 
Orus.  Around  the  bases  of  the  columns  spring  the  leaves  of 
the  sacred  lotus,  and  the  dark-blue  ceiling  is  spangled  with 
stars,  between  the  wings  of  the  divine  emblem.  The  sculptures 
are  all  in  raised  relief,  and  there  is  no  stone  in  the  temple 
without  them.  I  cannot  explain  to  myself  the  unusual  emotion 
r  felt  while  contemplating  this  wonderful  combination  of  a 


1X0  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

Bimple  and  sublime  architectural  style  with  the  utmost  elabo- 
ration of  ornament.  My  blood  pulsed  fast  and  warm  on  my 
first  view  of  the  Roman  Forum,  but  in  Dendera  I  was  so  sad- 
dened and  oppressed,  that  I  scarcely  dared  speak  for  fear  of 
betraying  an  unmanly  weakness.  My  friend  walked  silently 
between  the  columns,  with  a  face  as  rigidly  sad  as  if  he  had 
just  looked  on  the  coffin  of  his  nearest  relative.  Though  such 
a  mood  was  more  painful  than  agreeable,  it  required  some  effort 
to  leave  the  place,  and  after  a  stay  of  two  hours,  we  still  lin- 
gered in  the  portico  and  walked  through  the  inner  halls,  under 
the  spell  of  a  fascination  which  we  had  hardly  power  to  break. 
The  portico  opens  into  a  hall,  supported  by  six  beautiful 
columns,  of  smaller  proportions,  and  lighted  by  a  square  aper- 
ture in  the  solid  roof.  On  either  side  are  chambers  connected 
with  dim  and  lofty  passages,  and  beyond  is  the  sanctuary  and 
various  other  apartments,  which  receive  no  light  from  without. 
We  examined  their  sculptures  by  the  aid  of  torches,  and  our 
Arab  attendants  kindled  large  fires  of  dry  corn  stalks,  which 
cast  a  strong  red  light  on  the  walls.  The  temple  is  devoted  to 
Athor,  the  Egyptian  Venus,  and  her  image  is  everywhere  seen, 
receiving  the  homage  of  her  worshippers.  Even  the  dark  stair 
case,  leading  to  the  roof — ^up  which  we  climbed  over  heaps  of 
sand  and  rubbish — is  decorated  throughout  with  processions  of 
symbolical  figures.  The  drawing  has  little  of  that  grotesque 
stiffness  which  I  expected  to  find  in  Egyptian  sculptures,  and 
the  execution  is  so  admirable  in  its  gradations  of  light  and 
shade,  as  to  resemble,  at  a  little  distance,  a  monochromatic 
painting.  The  antiquarians  view  these  remains  with  little 
interest,  as  they  date  from  the  comparatively  recent  era  of  the 
Ptolomies,  at  which  time  sculpture  and  architecture  were  od 


THE  PORTRAIT  OF  CLEOPATRA.  Ill 

the  decline.  We,  who  had  seen  nothing  else  of  the  kind, 
were  charmed  with  the  grace  and  elegance  of  this  sumptuous 
mode  of  decoration.  Part  of  the  temple  was  built  by  Cleopatra, 
whose  portrait,  with  that  of  her  son  Caesarion,  may  still  be 
seen  on  the  exterior  wall.  The  face  of  the  colossal  figure  has' 
been  nearly  destroyed,  but  there  is  a  smaller  one,  whose  soft, 
voluptuous  outline  is  still  sufficient  evidence  of  the  justness  of 
her  renown.  The  profile  is  exquisitely  beautiful.  The  fore- 
head and  nose  approach  the  Greek  standard,  but  the  mouth  is 
more  roundly  and  delicately  curved,  and  the  chin  and  cheek 
are  fuller.  Were  such  an  outline  made  plastic,  were  the  blank 
face  colored  with  a  pale  olive  hue,  through  which  should  blush  a 
faint,  rosy  tinge,  lighted  with  bold  black  eyes  and  irradiated 
with  the  lightning  of  a  passionate  nature,  it  would  even  now 
'  move  the  mighty  hearts  of  captains  and  of  kings." 

Around  the  temple  and  over  the  mounds  of  the  ancient 
city  are  scattered  the  ruins  of  an  Arab  village  which  the  in- 
habitants suddenly  deserted,  without  any  apparent  reason,  two 
or  three  years  previous  to  our  visit.  Behind  it,  stretches  the 
yellow  sand  of  the  Desert.  The  silence  and  aspect  of  deser- 
tion harmonize  well  with  the  spirit  of  the  place,  which  would 
be  much  disturbed  were  one  beset,  as  is  usual  in  the  Arab 
towns,  by  a  gang  of  naked  beggars  and  barking  wolf-dogs, 
"besides  the  temple,  there  are  also  the  remains  of  a  chapel  of 
Isis,  with  a  pylon,  erected  by  Augustus  Caesar,  and  a  small 
temple,  nearly  whelmed  in  the  sand,  supposed  to  be  one  of  the 
mammeisi,  or  lying-in  houses  of  the  goddess  Athor,  who  was 
honored  in  this  form,  on  account  of  having  given  birth  to  the 
third  member  of  the  divine  Triad. 

At  sunset,  we  rode  back  from  Dendera  and  set  sail  fn 


112  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

Thebes.  In  the  evening,  as  we  were  sweeping  along  by  moon* 
light,  with  a  full  wind,  a  large  dahahiyeh  came  floating  down 
the  stream.  Achmet,  who  was  on  the  look-out,  saw  the  Amer- 
ican flag,  and  we  hailed  her.  My  delight  was  unbounded,  to 
hear  in  reply  the  voice  of  my  friend,  Mr.  Degen,  of  New  York, 
who,  with  his  lady  and  two  American  and  English  gentlemen, 
were  returning  from  a  voyage  to  Assouan.  Both  boats  in- 
stantly made  for  the  shore,  and  for  th6  first  time  since  leaving 
Germany  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  familiar  faces.  For  tho 
space  of  three  hours  I  forgot  Thebes  and  the  north  wind,  but 
towards  midnight  we  exchanged  a  parting  salute  of  four  guns 
and  shook  out  the  broad  sails  of  the  Cleopatra,  who  leaned  her 
cheek  to  the  waves  and  shot  off  like  a  sea-gull.  I  am  sure  she 
must  have  looked  beautiful  to  my  friends,  as  they  stood  on 
deck  in  the  moonlight. 


ARRIVAL    AT    THEBES.  118 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THEBES THE   WESTERN   BANK. 

Arrival  at  Thebes—Ground-Plan  of  the  Remains— "We  Cross  to  the  Western  Bank- 
Guides— The  Temple  of  Goorneh— Valley  of  the  Kings'  Tombs— Belzoni's  Tomb— 
The  Racca  of  Men — Vandalism  of  Antiquarians— Brace's  Tomb — Memnon — ^The 
Grandfather  of  Sesostris— The  Head  of  Amunoph— The  Colossi  of  the  Plain— 
Memnonian  Music — The  Statue  of  Remeses — The  Memnonium — Beauty  of  Egyp- 
tian Art^More  Scrambles  among  the  Tombs— The  Bats  of  the  Assassecf- Medee- 
net  Abou— Sculptured  Histories— The  Great  Court  of  the  Temple— We  return  to 
Lnxor. 

On  the  following  evening,  about  nine  o'clock,  as  my  friend  and 
I  were  taking  our  customary  evening  pipe  in  the  cabin,  our 
vessel  suddenly  stopped.  The  wind  was  still  blowing,  and  I 
called  to  Achmet  to  know  what  was  the  matter.  "We  have 
reached  Luxor,"  answered  the  Theban.  "We  dropped  the  she- 
books,  dashed  out,  up  the  bank,  and  saw,  facing  us  in  the 
brilliant  moonlight,  the  grand  colonnade  of  the  temple,  the 
solid  wedges  of  the  pylon,  and  the  brother-obelisk  of  that 
which  stands  in  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  in  Paris.  Tho 
wide  plain  of  Thebes  stretched  away  on  either  hand,  and  the 
beautiful  outlines  of  the  three  mountain  ranges  which  inclose 
it,  rose  in  the  distance  against  the  stars.  We  looked  on  the 
landscape  a  few  moments,  in  silence.  "  Come,"  said  my  friend, 
at  length,  "  this  is  enough  for  to-night.     Let  us  not  be  too 


114  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

hasty  to  exhaust  what  is  in  store  for  us."  So  we  returned  to 
our  cabin,  closed  the  blinds,  and  arranged  our  plans  for  best 
seeing,  and  best  enjoying  the  wonders  of  the  great  Diospolis. 

Before  commencing  my  recital,  let  me  attempt  to  give  an 
outline  of  the  typography  of  Thebes.  The  course  of  the  Nile 
is  here  nearly  north,  dividing  the  site  of  the  ancient  city  into 
two  almost  equal  parts.  On  approaching  it  from  Kenneh,  the 
mountain  of  Goorneh,  which  abuts  on  the  river,  marks  the 
commencement  of  the  western  division.  This  mountain,  a 
range  of  naked  limestone  crags,  terminating  in  a  pyramidal 
peak,  gradually  recedes  to  the  distance  of  three  miles  from  the 
Nile,  which  it  again  approaches  further  south.  Nearly  the 
whole  of  the  curve,  which  might  be  called  the  westei-n  wall  of 
the  city,  is  pierced  with  tombs,  among  which  are  those  of  the 
queens,  and  the  grand  priestly  vaults  of  the  Assasseef.  The 
Valley  of  the  Kings'  Tombs  lies  deep  in  the  heart  of  the 
range  seven  or  eight  miles  from  the  river.  After  passing  the 
corner  of  the  mountain,  the  first  ruin  on  the  western  bank  is 
that  of  the  temple-palace  of  Goorneh.  More  than  a  mile  fur- 
ther, at  the  base  of  the  mountain,  is  the  Memnonium,  or  tem- 
ple of  Remeses  the  Great,  between  which  and  the  Nile  the  two 
Memnonian  colossi  are  seated  on  the  plain.  Nearly  two  miles 
to  the  south  of  this  is  the  great  temple  of  Medeenet  Abou,  and 
the  fragments  of  other  edifices  are  met  with,  still  further  be- 
yond. On  the  eastern  bank,  nearly  opposite  Goorneh,  stands 
the  temple  of  Karnak,  about  half  a  mile  from  the  river. 
Eight  miles  eastward,  at  the  foot  of  the  Arabian  Mountains,  is 
the  small  temple  of  Medamot,  which,  however,  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  included  in  the  limits  of  Thebes.  Luxor  is  di- 
rectly on  the  bank  of  the  Nile,  a  mile  and  a  half  south  of 


THE    WESTERN    BANK.  116 

Kamak,  and  the  plain  extends  several  miles  beyond  it,  before 
reaching  the  isolated  range,  whose  three  conical  peaks  are  the 
landmarks  of  Thebes  to  voyagers  on  the  river. 

These  distances  convey  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  ancient 
city,  but  fail  to  represent  the  grand  proportions  of  the  land 
scape,  so  well  fitted,  in  its  simple  and  majestic  outlines,  to  in- 
close the  most  wonderful  structures  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
The  green  expanse  of  the  plain ;  the  airy  coloring  of  the  moun- 
tains ;  the  mild,  solemn  blue  of  the  cloudless  Egyptian  sky  ;— 
these  are  a  part  of  Thebes,  and  inseparable  from  the  remem- 
brance of  its  ruins. 

At  sunrise  we  crossed  to  the  western  bank  and  moored  our 
boat  opposite  Goorneh.  It  is  advisable  to  commence  with  the 
Tombs,  and  close  the  inspection  of  that  side  with  Medeenet 
Abou,  reserving  Kamak,  the  grandest  of  all,  for  the  last. 
The  most  unimportant  objects  in  Thebes  are  full  of  interest 
when  seen  first,  whereas  Karnak,  once  seen,  fills  one's  thoughts 
to  the  exclusion  of  every  thing  else.  There  are  Arab  guides 
for  each  bank,  who  are  quite  familiar  with  all  the  principal 
points,  and  who  have  a  quiet  and  unobtrusive  way  of  directing 
the  traveller,  which  I  should  be  glad  to  see  introduced  into 
England  and  Italy.  Our  guide,  old  Achmet  Gourgar,  was  a 
tall,  lean  gray-beard,  who  wore  a  white  turban  and  long  brown 
robe,  and  was  most  conscientious  in  his  endeavors  to  satisfy  us. 
We  found  several  horses  on  the  bank,  ready  saddled,  and 
choosing  two  of  the  most  promising,  set  off  on  a  stirring  gal- 
lop for  the  temple  of  Goorneh  and  the  Valley  of  the  Kings' 
Tombs,  leaving  Achmet  to  follow  with  our  breakfast,  and  the 
Arab  boys  with  their  water  bottles. 

The  temple  of  Goorneh  was  built  for  the  worship  of  Amun, 


116  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

the  Theban  Jupiter,  by  Osirei  and  his  son,  Remeses  the  Great, 
the  supposed  Sesostris,  nearly  fourteen  hundred  years  before 
the  Christian  era.  It  is  small,  compared  with  the  other  ruins, 
but  interesting  from  its  rude  and  massive  style,  a  remnant  of 
the  early  period  of  Egyptian  architecture.  The  two  pylons  in 
front  of  it  are  shattered  down,  and  the  dromos  of  sphinxes  has 
entirely  disappeared.  The  portico  is  supported  by  a  single 
row  of  ten  columns,  which  neither  resemble  each  other,  nor 
are  separated  by  equal  spaces.  What  is  most  singular,  is  the 
fact  that  notwithstanding  this  disproportion,  which  is  also  ob- 
servable in  the  doorways,  the  general  effect  is  harmonious. 
We  tried  to  fathom  the  secret  of  this,  and  found  no  other  ex- 
planation than  in  the  lowness  of  the  building,  and  the  rough 
granite  blocks  of  which  it  is  built.  One  seeks  no  proportion 
in  a  natural  temple  of  rock,  or  a  cirque  of  Druid  stones.  All 
that  the  eye  requires  is  rude  strength,  with  a  certain  approach 
to  order.  Tho  effect  produced  by  this  temple  is  of  a  similar 
character,  barring  its  historical  interest.  Its  dimensions  are 
too  small  to  be  imposing,  and  I  found,  after  passing  it  several 
times,  that  I  valued  it  more  as  a  feature  in  the  landscape, 
than  for  its  own  sake. 

The  sand  and  pebbles  clattered  under  the  hoofs  of  our 
horses,  as  we  galloped  up  the  gorge  of  Bihan  el  Molooh,  the 
"  Gates  of  the  Kings."  The  sides  are  perpendicular  cliffs  of 
yellow  rock,  which  increased  in  height,  the  further  we  advanc- 
ed, and  at  last  terminated  in  a  sort  of  basin,  shut  in  by  preci- 
pices several  hundred  feet  in  height  and  broken  into  fantastic 
turrets,  gables  and  pinnacles.  The  bottom  is  filled  with  huge 
heaps  of  sand  and  broken  stones,  left  from  the  excavation 
of  the  tombs  in  the  solid  rock.     There  are  twenty-one  tombs 


BELZONl's    TOMB.  117 

in  this  valley,  more  than  half  of  which  are  of  great  extent  and 
richly  adorned  with  paintings  and  sculptures.  Some  have 
been  filled  with  sand  or  otherwise  injured  by  the  occasional 
rains  which  visit  this  region,  while  a  few  are  too  small  and 
plain  to  need  visiting.  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  has  numbered 
them  all  in  red  chalk  at  the  entrances,  which  is  very  convenient 
to  those  who  use  his  work  on  Egypt  as  a  guide.  I  visited  ten 
of  the  principal  tombs,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  old  guide, 
who  complained  that  travellers  are  frequently  satisfied  with 
four  or  five.  The  general  arrangement  is  the  same  in  all,  but 
they  differ  greatly  in  extent  and  in  the  character  of  their  deco- 
ration. 

The  first  we  entered  was  the  celebrated  tomb  of  Remeses 
L,  discovered  by  Belzoni.  From  the  narrow  entrance,  a  pre- 
cipitous staircase,  the  walls  of  which  are  covered  with  columns 
of  hieroglyphics,  descends  to  a  depth  of  forty  feet,  where  it 
strikes  a  horizontal  passage  leading  to  an  oblong  chamber,  in 
which  was  formerly  a  deep  pit,  which  Belzoni  filled.  This  pit 
protected  the  entrance  to  the  royal  chamber,  which  was  also 
carefully  walled  up.  In  the  grace  and  freedom  of  the  draw- 
ings, and  the  richness  of  their  coloring,  this  tomb  surpasses 
all  others.  The  subjects  represented  are  the  victories  of  the 
monarch,  while  in  the  sepulchral  chamber  he  is  received  into 
the  presence  of  the  gods.  The  limestone  rock  is  covered  with 
a  fine  coating  of  plaster,  on  which  the  figures  were  first  drawn 
with  red  chalk,  and  afterwards  carefully  finished  in  colors. 
The  reds,  yellows,  greens  and  blues  are  very  brilliant,  but 
seem  to  have  been  employed  at  random,  the  gods  having  faces 
sometimes  of  one  color,  sometimes  of  another.  In  the  furthest 
chamber,  which   was   left  unfinished,  the   subjects  are  only 


118  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

sketched  in  red  chalk.  Some  of  them  have  the  loose  and  un- 
certain lines  of  a  pupil's  hand,  over  which  one  sees  the  bold 
and  rapid  corrections  of  the  master.  Many  of  the  figures  are 
remarkable  for  their  strength  and  freedom  of  outline.  I  was 
greatly  interested  in  a  procession  of  men,  representing  the  dif- 
ferent nations  of  the  earth.  The  physical  peculiarities  of  the 
Persian,  the  Jew  and  the  Ethiopian  are  therein  as  distinctly 
marked  as  at  the  present  day.  The  blacks  are  perfect  coun- 
terparts of  those  I  saw  daily  upon  the  Nile,  and  the  noses  of 
the  Jews  seem  newly  painted  from  originals  in  New  York. 
So  little  diversity  in  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  race, 
after  the  lapse  of  more  than  three  thousand  years,  is  a  strong 
argument  in  favor  of  the  new  ethnological  theory  of  the  sepa- 
rate origin  of  different  races.  Whatever  objections  may  be 
urged  against  this  theory,  the  fact  that  the  races  have  not  ma- 
terially changed  since  the  earliest  historic  times,  is  established 
by  these  Egyptian  records,  and  we  must  either  place  the  first 
appearance  of  Man  upon  the  earth  many  thousands  of  years  in 
advance  of  Bishop  Usher's  chronology,  or  adopt  the  conclusion 
of  Morton  and  Agassiz. 

The  burial-vault,  where  Belzoni  found  the  alabaster  sarco- 
phagus of  the  monarch,  is  a  noble  hall,  thirty  feet  long  by  nearly 
twenty  in  breadth  and  height,  with  four  massive  pillars  form- 
ing a  corridor  on  one  side.  In  addition  to  the  light  of  oui 
torches,  the  Arabs  kindled  a  large  bonfire  in  the  centre,  which 
brought  out  in  strong  relief  the  sepulchral  figures  on  the  ceiling, 
painted  in  white  on  a  ground  of  dark  indigo  hue.  The  pillars 
and  walls  of  the  vault  glowed  with  the  vivid  variety  of  their 
colors,  and  the  general  effect  was  unspeakably  rich  and  gor- 
geous.    This  tomb  has  already  fallen  a  prey  to  worse  plunderers 


bruce's  tdmb.  lU 

than  the  Medes  and  Persians.  Belzoni  carried  off  the  sarco- 
phagus, Champollion  cut  away  the  splendid  jambs  and  architrave 
of  the  entrance  to  the  lower  chambers,  and  Lepsius  has  finished 
by  splitting  the  pillars  and  appropriating  their  beautiful  paint- 
ings for  the  Museum  at  Berlin.  At  one  spot,  where  the  latter 
has  totally  ruined  a  fine  doorway,  some  indignant  Frenchman 
has  written  in  red  chalk  :  '■'■Meurtre  commispar  Lepsiusy  In 
all  the  tombs  of  Thebes,  wherever  you  see  the  most  flagrant 
and  shameless  spoliations,  the  guide  says,  "  Lepsius."  Who 
can  blame  the  Arabs  for  wantonly  defacing  these  precious 
monuments,  when  such  an  example  is  set  them  by  the  vanity 
of  European  antiquarians  ? 

Bruee's  Tomb,  which  extends  for  four  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  into  the  rock,  is  larger  than  Belzoni's,  but  not  so  fresh  and 
brilliant.  The  main  entrance  slopes  with  a  very  gradual  de- 
scent, and  has  on  each  side  a  number  of  small  chambers  and 
niches,  apparently  for  mummies.  The  illustrations  in  these 
chambers  are  somewhat  defaced,  but  very  curious,  on  account 
of  the  light  which  they  throw  upon  the  domestic  life  of  the 
Ancient  Egyptians.  They  represent  the  slaughtering  of  oxen, 
the  preparation  of  fowls  for  the  table,  the  kneading  and  baking 
of  bread  and  cakes,  as  well  as  the  implements  and  utensils  of 
the  kitchen.  In  other  places  the  field  laborers  are  employed 
in  leading  the  water  of  the  Nile  into  canals,  cutting  dourra, 
threshing  and  carrying  the  grain  into  magazines.  One  room 
is  filled  with  furniture,  and  the  row  of  chairs  around  the 
base  of  the  walls  would  not  be  out  of  place  in  the  most  elegant 
modern  drawing-room.  The  Illustrated  Catalogue  of  the  Lon- 
don Exhibition  contains  few  richer  and  more  graceful  patterns. 
In  a  chamber  nearer  the  royal  vault,  two  old,  blind  minstrels 


120  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

are  seen,  playing  the  harp  in  tlie  presence  of  the  King,  whence 
this  is  sometimes  called  the  Harper's  Tomb.  The  pillars  of 
the  grand  hall,  like  those  of  all  the  other  tombs  we  visited^ 
represent  the  monarch,  after  death,  received  into  the  presence 
of  the  gods — stately  figures,  with  a  calm  and  serious  aspect, 
and  lips,  which,  like  those  of  the  Sphinx,  seemed  closed  upon 
some  awful  mystery.  The  absurdity  of  the  coloring  does  not 
destroy  this  effect,  and  a  blue-faced  Isis,  whose  hard,  black  eye- 
ball stares  from  a  brilliant  white  socket,  is  not  less  impressive 
than  the  same  figure,  cut  in  sandstone  or  granite. 

The  delicacy  and  precision  of  the  hieroglyphics,  sculptured 
in  intaglio,  filled  me  with  astonishment.  In  the  tomb  of  Amunoph 
III.,  which  I  visited  the  next  day,  they  resembled  the  ciphers 
engraved  upon  seals  in  their  exquisite  sharpness  and  regularity. 
Only  the  principal  tombs,  however,  are  thus  beautified.  In 
others  the  figures  are  either  simply  painted,  or  apparently 
sunken  in  the  plaster,  while  it  was  yet  fresh,  by  prepared  pat- 
terns. The  latter  method  accounts  for  the  exact  resemblance 
of  long  processions  of  figures,  which  would  otherwise  require  a 
most  marvellous  skill  on  the  part  of  the  artist.  In  some  un- 
finished chambers  I  detected  plainly  the  traces  of  these  pat- 
terns, where  the  outlines  of  the  figures  were  blunt  and  the  grain 
of  the  plaster  bent,  and  not  cut.  The  family  likeness  in  the 
faces  of  the  monarchs  is  also  too  striking,  unfortunately,  for  us 
to  accept  them  all  as  faithful  portraits.  They  are  all  apparent- 
ly of  the  same  age,  and  their  attributes  do  not  materially  differ. 
This  was  probably  a  flattery  on  the  part  of  the  artists,  or  the 
effect  of  a  royal  vanity,  which  required  to  be  portrayed  in  the 
freshness  of  youth  and  the  full  vigor  of  body  and  mind.  The 
first  faces  I  learned  to  recognize  were  those  of  Remeses  II., 
the  supposed  Sesostris,  and  Amunoph  III. 


AN    ANCIENT    TOMB.  121 

The  tomb  of  Memnon,  as  it  was  called  by  the  Romans,  is 
the  most  elegant  of  all,  in  its  proportions,  and  is  as  symmetri- 
cal as  a  Grecian  temple.  On  the  walls  of  the  entrance  are 
several  inscriptions  of  Greek  tourists,  who  visited  it  in  the  era 
of  the  Ptolemies,  and  spent  their  time  in  carving  their  names, 
like  Americans  nowadays.  The  huge  granite  sarcophagus  in 
which  the  monarch's  mummy  was  deposited,  is  broken,  as  are 
those  of  the  other  tombs,  with  a  single  exception.  This  is  the 
tomb  of  Osirei  I.,  the  grandfather  of  Sesostris,  and  the  oldest 
in  the  valley.  I  visited  it  by  crawling  through  a  hole  barely 
large  enough  to  admit  my  body,  after  which  I  slid  on  my  back 
down  a  passage  nearly  choked  with  sand,  to  another  hole, 
opening  into  the  burial  chamber.  Here  no  impious  hand  had 
defaced  the  walls,  but  the  figures  were  as  perfect  and  the  color- 
ing as  brilliant  as  when  first  executed.  In  the  centre  stood 
an  immense  sarcophagus,  of  a  single  block  of  red  granite,  and 
the  massive  lid,  which  had  been  thrown  oflf,  lay  beside  it.  The 
dust  in  the  bottom  gave  out  that  peculiar  mummy  odor  percep- 
tible in  all  the  tombs,  and  in  fact  lon^  after  one  has  left  them, 
for  the  clothes  become  saturated  with  it.  The  guide,  delighted 
mth  having  dragged  me  into  that  chamber,  buried  deep  in  the 
lumb  heart  of  the  mountain,  said  not  a  word,  and  from  the 
awful  stillness  of  the  place  and  the  phantasmagoric  gleam  of 
the  wonderful  figures  on  the  walls,  I  could  have  imagined  my* 
self  a  neophyte,  on  the  threshold  of  the  Osirian  mysteries. 

We  rode  to  the  Western  Valley,  a  still  deeper  and  wider 
glen,  containing  tombs  of  the  kings  of  the  foreign  dynasty  of 
Atin-Re.  We  entered  the  two  principal  ones,  but  found  the 
paintings  rude  and  insignificant.  There  are  many  lateral  pas- 
sages and  chambers  and  \n  some  places  deep  pits,  along  the 
6 


122  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

edge  of  which  we  were  obliged  to  crawl.  In  the  last  tomb  a 
very  long  and  steep  staircase  descends  into  the  rock.  As  wo 
were  groping  after  the  guide,  I  called  to  my  friend  to  take  care, 
as  there  was  but  a  single  step,  after  making  a  slip.  The  words 
were  scarcely  out  of  my  mouth  before  I  felt  a  tremendous 
thump,  followed  by  a  number  of  smaller  ones,  and  found  myself 
sitting  in  a  heap  of  sand,  at  the  bottom,  some  twenty  or  thirty 
feet  below.  Fortunately,  I  came  off  with  but  a  few  slight 
bruises. 

Returning  to  the  temple  of  Goorneh,  we  took  a  path  over 
the  plain,  through  fields  of  wheat,  lupins  and  lentils,  to  the  two 
colossi,  which  we  had  already  seen  from  a  distance.  These 
immense  sitting  figures,  fifty-three  feet  above  the  plain,  which 
has  buried  their  pedestals,  overlook  the  site  of  vanished 
Thebes  and  assert  the  grandeur  of  which  they  and  Karnak  are 
the  most  striking  remains.  They  were  erected  by  Amunoph 
III.,  and  though  the  faces  are  totally  disfigured,  the  full,  round, 
beautiful  proportions  of  the  colossal  arms,  shoulders  and  thighs 
do  not  belie  the  marvellous  sweetness  of  the  features  which  we 
still  see  in  his  tomb.  Except  the  head  of  Antinous,  I  know 
of  no  ancient  portrait  so  beautiful  as  Amunoph.  The  long  and 
luxuriant  hair,  flowing  in  a  hundred  ringlets,  the  soft  grace  of 
the  forehead,  the  mild  serenity  of  the  eye,  the  fine  thin  lines 
of  the  nostrils  and  the  feminine  tenderness  of  the  full  lips, 
triumph  over  the  cramped  rigidity  of  Egyptian  sculpture,  and 
charm  you  with  the  lightness  and  harmony  of  Greek  art.  In 
looking  on  that  head,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  subject 
overpowered  the  artist,  and  led  him  to  the  threshold  of  a  truer 
art.  Amunoph,  or  Memnon,  was  a  poet  in  soul,  and  it  was 
meet  that  his  statue  should  salute  the  rising  sun  with  a  sound 
like  that  of  a  harp-string. 


THE    MUSIC    or    MEMNON.  123 

Modern  research  has  wholly  annihilated  this  beautiful  fable 
Memnon  now  sounds  at  all  hours  of  the  day,  and  at  the  com- 
mand of  all  travellers  who  pay  an  Arab  five  piastres  to  climb 
into  his  lap.  We  engaged  a  vender  of  modern  scarabei,  who 
threw  off  his  garments,  hooked  his  fingers  and  toes  into  the 
cracks  of  the  polished  granite,  and  soon  hailed  us  with  "  Sa- 
laam !  "  from  the  knee  of  the  statue.  There  is  a  certain  stone 
on  Memnon's  lap,  which,  when  sharply  struck,  gives  out  a  clear 
metallic  ring.  Behind  it  is  a  small  square  aperture,  invisible 
from  below,  where  one  of  the  priests  no  doubt  stationed  him- 
self to  perform  the  daily  miracle.  Our  Arab  rapped  on  the 
arms  and  body  of  the  statue,  which  had  the  usual  dead  sound 
of  stone,  and  rendered  the  musical  ring  of  the  sun-smitten 
block  more  striking.  An  avenue  of  sphinxes  once  led  from  the 
colossi  to  a  grand  temple,  the  foundations  of  which  we  found 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant.  On  the  way  are  the  frag- 
ments of  two  other  colossi,  one  of  black  granite.  The  enor- 
mous substructions  of  the  temple  and  the  pedestals  of  its  col- 
umns have  been  sufficiently  excavated  to  show  what  a  superb 
edifice  has  been  lost  to  the  world.  A  crowd  of  troublesome 
Arabs,  thrusting  upon  our  attention  newly  baken  cinerary  urns, 
newly  roasted  antique  wheat,  and  images  of  all  kinds  fresh 
from  the  maker's  hand,  disturbed  our  quiet  examination  of  the 
ruins,  and  in  order  to  escape  their  importunities,  we  rode  to 
the  Memnonium. 

This  edifice,  the  temple-palace  of  Remeses  the  Great,  is 
supposed  to  be  the  Memnonium,  described  by  Strabo.  It  is 
built  on  a  gentle  rise  of  land  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  and 
looks  eastward  to  the  Nile  and  Luxor.  The  grand  stone  py- 
lon which  stands  at  the   entrance  of  its  former  avenue  of 


124  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

sphinxes  has  been  half  levelled  by  the  fury  of  the  Persian  con- 
querors, and  the  colossal  granite  statue  of  Remeses,  in  the  first 
court  of  the  temple,  now  lies  in  enormous  fragments  around  its 
pedestal.  Mere  dimensions  give  no  idea  of  this  immense 
mass,  the  weight  of  which,  when  entire,  was  nearly  nine  hun- 
dred tons.  How  poor  and  trifling  appear  the  modern  statues 
which  we  call  colossal,  when  measured  with  this,  one  of  whose 
toes  is  a  yard  in  length;  and  how  futile  the  appliances  of 
modern  art,  when  directed  to  its  transportation  for  a  distance 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  !  The  architrave  at  each  end 
of  the  court  was  upheld  by  four  caryatides,  thirty  feet  in  height. 
Though  much  defaced,  they  are  still  standing,  but  are  dwarfed 
by  the  mighty  limbs  of  Remeses.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for 
the  means  by  which  the  colossus  was  broken.  There  are  no 
marks  of  any  instruments  which  could  have  forced  such  a  mass 
asunder,  and  the  only  plausible  conjecture  I  have  heard  is, 
that  the  stone  must  have  been  subjected  to  an  intense  heat  and 
afterwards  to  the  action  of  water.  The  statue,  in  its  sitting 
position,  must  have  been  nearly  sixty  feet  in  height,  and  is  the 
largest  in  the  world,  though  not  so  high  as  the  rock-hewn 
monoliths  of  Aboo-Simbel.  The  Turks  and  Arabs  have  cut 
several  mill-stones  out  of  its  head,  without  any  apparent  dimi 
nution  of  its  size. 

The  Memnonium  differs  from  the  other  temples  of  Egypt 
in  being  almost  faultless  in  its  symmetry,  even  when  measured 
by  the  strictest  rules  of  art.  I  know  of  nothing  so  exquisite 
as  the  central  colonnade  of  its  grand  hall — a  double  row  of 
pillars,  forty-five  feet  in  height  and  twenty-three  in  circum 
ference,  crowned  with  capitals  resembling  the  bell-shaped  blos- 
soms of  the  lotus.     One  must  see  them  to  comprehend  how 


THE    MEMNONIUM.  125 

this  simple  form,  whose  expression  is  all  sweetness  and  tender- 
ness in  the  flower,  softens  and  beautifies  the  solid  majesty  of 
the  shaft.  In  spite  of  their  colossal  proportions,  there  is 
nothing  massive  or  heavy  in  their  aspect.  The  cup  of  the 
capital  curves  gently  outward  from  the  abacus  on  which  the 
architrave  rests,  and  seems  the  natural  blossom  of  the  co- 
lumnar stem.  On  either  side  of  this  perfect  colonnade  are  four 
rows  of  Osiride  pillars,  of  smaller  size,  yet  the  variety  of  their 
form  and  proportions  only  enhances  the  harmony  of  the  whole. 
This  is  one  of  those  enigmas  in  architecture  which  puzzle  one 
on  his  first  acquaintance  with  Egyptian  temples,  and  which  he 
is  often  forced  blindly  to  accept  as  new  laws  of  art,  because  his 
feeling  tells  him  they  are  true,  and  his  reason  cannot  satisfac- 
torily demonstrate  that  they  are  false. 

We  waited  till  the  yellow  rays  of  sunset  fell  on  the  capi- 
tals of  the  Memnonium,  and  they  seemed,  like  the  lotus  flowers, 
to  exhale  a  vapory  light,  before  we  rode  home.  All  night  we 
wandered  in  dreams  through  kingly  vaults,  with  starry  ceilings 
and  illuminated  walls ;  but  on  looking  out  of  our  windows  at 
dawn,  we  saw  the  red  saddle-cloths  of  our  horses  against  the 
dark  background  of  the  palm  grove,  as  they  came  down  to  the 
boat.  No  second  nap  was  possible,  after  such  a  sight,  and 
many  minutes  had  not  elapsed  before  we  were  tasting  the  cool 
morning  air  in  the  delight  of  a  race  up  and  down  the  shore. 
Our  old  guide,  however,  was  on  his  donkey  betimes,  and  called 
us  off  to  our  duty.  We  passed  Goorneh,  and  ascended  the 
eastern  face  of  the  mountain  to  the  tombs  of  the  priests  and 
private  citizens  of  Thebes.  For  miles  along  the  mountain 
side,  one  sees  nothing  but  heaps  of  sand  and  rubbish,  with 
here  and  there  an  Arab  hut,  built  against  the  face  of  a  tomb 


126  JOURNEY   TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA.. 

whose  chambers  serve  as  pigeon-houses,  and  stalls  for  assea. 
The  earth  is  filled  with  fragments  of  mummies,  and  the  ban- 
dages  in  which  they  were  wrapped ;  for  even  the  sanctity  of 
death  itself,  is  here  neither  respected  by  the  Arabs  nor  tlie 
Europeans  whom  they  imitate.  I  cannot  conceive  the  passion 
which  some  travellers  have,  of  carrying  away  withered  hands 
and  fleshless  legs,  and  disfiguring  the  abodes  of  the  dead  with 
their  insignificant  names.  I  should  as  soon  think  of  carving 
my  initials  on  the  back  of  a  live  Arab,  as  on  these  venerable 
monuments. 

The  first  tomb  we  entered  almost  cured  us  of  the  desire  to 
visit  another.  It  was  that  called  the  Assasseef,  built  by  a 
wealthy  priest,  and  it  is  the  largest  in  Thebes.  Its  outer 
court  measures  one  hundred  and  three  by  seventy-six  feet,  and 
its  passages  extend  between  eight  and  nine  hundred  feet  into 
the  mountain.  We  groped  our  way  between  walls  as  black  as 
ink,  through  long,  labyrinthine  suites  of  chambers,  breathing 
a  deathlike  and  oppressive  odor.  The  stairways  seemed  to 
lead  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and  on  either  hand  yawned 
pits  of  uncertain  depth.  As  we  advanced,  the  ghostly  vaults 
rumbled  with  a  sound  like  thunder,  and  hundreds  of  noisome 
bats,  scared  by  the  light,  dashed  against  the  walls  and  dropped 
at  our  feet.  We  endured  this  for  a  little  while,  but  on  reach- 
ing the  entrance  to  some  darker  and  deeper  mystery,  were  so 
surrounded  by  the  animals,  who  struck  their  filthy  wings 
against  our  faces,  that  not  for  ten  kings'  tombs  wculd  we  have 
gone  a  step  further.  My  friend  was  on  the  point  of  vowing 
never  to  set  his  foot  in  another  tomb,  but  I  persuaded  him  to 
wait  until  we  had  seen  that  of  Amunoph.  I  followed  the 
guide,  who  enticed  me  by  flattering  promises  into  a  great  many 


MEDEENET    ABOU ^TIIE    PYLON.  127 

snakelike  holes,  and  when  he  was  tired  with  crawling  in  the 
dust,  sent  one  of  our  water-carriers  in  advance,  who  dragged 
me  in  and  out  by  the  heels. 

The  temple  of  Medeenet  Abou  is  almost  concealed  by  the 
ruins  of  a  Coptic  village,  among  which  it  stands,  and  by  which 
it  is  partially  buried.  The  outer  court,  pylon  and  main  hall 
of  the  smaller  temple  rise  above  the  mounds  and  overlook  the 
plain  of  Thebes,  but  scarcely  satisfy  the  expectation  of  the 
traveller,  as  he  approaches.  You  first  enter  an  inclosure  sur- 
rounded by  a  low  stone  wall,  and  standing  in  advance  of  the 
pylon.  The  rear  wall,  facing  the  entrance,  contains  two  sin- 
gle pillars,  with  bell-shaped  capitals,  which  rise  above  it  and 
stand  like  guards  before  the  doorway  of  the  pylon.  Here  was 
another  enigma  for  us.  Who  among  modem  architects  would 
dare  to  plant  two  single  pillars  before  a  pyramidal  gateway  of 
solid  masonry,  and  then  inclose  them  in  a  plain  wall,  rising  to 
half  their  height  ?  Yet  here  the  symmetry  of  the  shafts  is  not 
injured  by  the  wall  in  which  they  stand,  nor  oppressed  by  the 
ponderous  bulk  of  the  pylon.  On  the  contrary,  the  light  col- 
umns and  spreading  capitals,  like  a  tuft  of  wild  roses  hanging 
from  the  crevice  of  a  rock,  brighten  the  rude  strength  of  the 
masses  of  stone  with  a  gleam  of  singular  loveliness.  What 
would  otherwise  only  impress  you  by  its  size,  now  endears  it- 
self to  you  by  its  beauty.  Is  this  the  effect  of  chance,  or  the 
result  of  a  finer  art  than  that  which  flourishes  in  our  day  ?  I 
will  not  pretend  to  determine,  but  I  must  confess  that  Egypt, 
in  whose  ruins  I  had  expected  to  find  only  a  sort  of  barbaric 
grandeur,  has  given  me  a  new  insight  into  that  vital  Beauty 
which  is  the  soul  of  true  Art. 

We  devoted  little  time  to  the  ruined  court  and  sanctuaries 


J  28  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

which  follow  the  pylon,  and  to  the  lodges  of  the  main  temple 
standing  beside  them  like  watch-towers,  three  stories  in  height. 
The  majestic  pylon  of  the  great  temple  of  Kemeses  III.  rose 
behind  them,  out  of  heaps  of  pottery  and  unburnt  bricks,  and 
the  colossal  figure  of  the  monarch  in  his  car,  borne  by  two 
horses  into  the  midst  of  the  routed  enemy,  attracted  us  from  a 
distance.  We  followed  the  exterior  wall  of  the  temple,  for  its 
whole  length  of  more  than  six  hundred  feet,  reading  the  sculp- 
tured history  of  his  conquests.  The  entire  outer  wall  of  the 
temple  presents  a  series  of  gigantic  cartoons,  cut  in  the  blocks 
of  sandstone,  of  which  it  is  built.  Remeses  is  always  the  cen- 
tral figure,  distinguished  from  subjects  and  foes  no  less  by  his 
superior  stature  than  by  the  royal  emblems  which  accompany 
him.  Here  we  see  heralds  sounding  the  trumpet  in  advance  of 
his  car,  while  his  troops  pass  in  review  before  him ;  there,  with 
a  lion  walking  by  his  side,  he  sets  out  on  his  work  of  conquest. 
His  soldiers  storm  a  town,  and  we  see  them  climbing  the  wall 
with  ladders,  while  a  desperate  hand-to-hand  conflict  is  going 
on  below.  In  another  place,  he  has  alighted  from  his  chariot 
and  stands  with  his  foot  on  the  neck  of  a  slaughtered  king. 
Again,  his  vessels  attack  a  hostile  navy  on  the  sea.  One  of 
the  foreign  craft  becomes  entangled  and  is  capsized,  yet  while 
his  spearmen  hurl  their  weapons  among  the  dismayed  enemy, 
the  sailors  rescue  those  who  are  struggling  in  the  flood.  After 
we  have  passed  through  these  stiange  and  stirring  pictures,  we 
find  the  monarch  reposing  on  his  throne,  while  his  soldiers  de- 
posit before  him  the  hands  of  the  slaughtered,  and  his  scribes 
present  to  him  lists  of  their  numbers,  and  his  generals  lead  to 
him  long  processions  of  fettered  captives.  Again,  he  is  repre- 
sented as  ofiering  a  group  of  subject  kings  to  Amun,  the  The* 


M 


THE    INNER    COURT.  129 

ban  Jupiter,  who  says  to  him  :  "  Go,  my  cherished  and  chosen, 
make  war  on  foreign  nations,  besiege  their  forts  and  carry  off 
their  people  to  live  as  captives."  On  the  front  wall,  he  holds 
in  his  grasp  the  hands  of  a  dozen  monarchs,  while  with  the 
other  hand  he  raises  his  sword  to  destroy  them.  Their  faces 
express  the  very  extreme  of  grief  and  misery,  but  he  is  cold 
and  calm  as  Fate  itself. 

We  slid  down  the  piles  of  sand  ani  entered  by  a  side-door 
into  the  grand  hall  of  the  temple.  Here,  as  at  Dendera,  a  sur- 
prise awaited  us.  We  stood  on  the  pavement  of  a  magnificent 
court,  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  square,  around  which 
ran  a  colonnade  of  pillars,  eight  feet  square  and  forty  feet  high. 
On  the  western  side  is  an  inner  row  of  circular  columns,  twen- 
ty-four feet  in  circumference,  with  capitals  representing  the 
papyrus  blossom.  The  entire  court,  with  its  walls,  pillars  and 
doorways,  is  covered  with  splendid  sculptures  and  traces  of 
paint,  and  the  ceiling  is  blue  as  the  noonday  sky,  and  studded 
with  stars.  Against  each  of  the  square  columns  facing  the 
court  once  stood  a  colossal  caryatid,  upholding  the  architrave 
of  another  colonnade  of  granite  shafts,  nearly  all  of  which  have 
been  thrown  from  their  bases  and  lie  shivered  on  the  pavement. 
This  court  opens  towards  the  pylon  into  another  of  similar 
dimensions,  but  buried  almost  to  the  capitals  of  its  columns  in 
heaps  of  rubbish.  The  character  of  the  temple  is  totally  differ- 
ent from  that  of  every  other  in  Egypt.  Its  height  is  small  in 
proportion  to  its  great  extent,  and  it  therefore  loses  the  airy 
lightness  of  the  Memnonium  and  the  impressive  grandeur  of 
Dendera.  Its  expression  is  that  of  a  massive  magnificence,  if 
I  may  use  such  a  doubtful  compound  :  no  single  epithet  sufl^ 
ces  to  describe  it. 

6*  ^ 


130  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

With  Medeenet  Abou  finished  our  survey  of  the  western 
division  of  Thebes — two  long  days  of  such  experience  as  the 
contemplation  of  a  lifetime  cannot  exhaust.  At  sunset  we  took 
advantage  of  the  wind,  parted  from  our  grooms  and  water- 
carriers,  who  wished  to  accompany  me  to  Khartoum,  and  -jross- 
ed  the  Nile  to  Luxor. 


AN    EGYPTIAN    SCHOOL.  139 

•—I  should  certainly  make  despotic  use  of  it,  in  tearing  down 
some  dozens  of  villages  and  setting  some  thousands  of  Copts 
and  Fellahs  at  work  in  exhuming  what  their  ancestors  have 
mutilated  and  buried.  The  world- cannot  spare  these  remains. 
Tear  down  Roman  ruins  if  you  will ;  level  Cyclopean  walls , 
build  bridges  with  the  stones  of  Gothic  abbeys  and  feudal  for- 
tresses ;  but  lay  no  hand  on  the  glory  and  grandeur  of  Egypt. 

In  order  to  ascend  the  great  pylon  of  the  temple,  we  were 
obliged  to  pass  through  a  school,  in  which  thirty  or  forty  little 
Luxorians  were  conning  their  scraps  of  the  Koran.  They  im- 
mediately surrounded  us,  holding  up  their  tin  slates,  scribbled 
with  Arabic  characters,  for  our  inspection,  and  demanded  back- 
sheesh for  their  proficiency.  The  gray-bearded  pedagogue  tried 
to  quiet  them,  but  could  not  prevent  several  from  following 
us.  The  victories  of  Remeses  are  sculptured  on  the  face  of 
the  towers  of  the  pylon,  but  his  colossi,  solid  figures  of  granite, 
which  sit  on  either  side  of  the  entrance,  have  been  much  de- 
faced. The  lonely  obelisk,  which  stands  a  little  in  advance, 
on  the  left  hand,  is  more  perfect  than  its  Parisian  mate.  From 
this  stately  entrance,  an  avenue  of  colossal  sphinxes  once  ex- 
tended to  the  Ptolemaic  pylon  of  Karnak,  a  distance  of  a  mile 
and  a  half.  The  sphinxes  have  disappeared,  but  the  modem 
Arab  road  leads  over  its  site,  through  fields  of  waste  grass. 

And  now  we  galloped  forward,  through  a  long  procession 
of  camels,  donkeys,  and  Desert  Arabs  armed  with  spears, 
towards  Karnak,  the  greatest  ruin  in  the  world,  the  crowning 
triumph  of  Egyptian  power  and  Egyptian  art.  Except  a 
broken  stone  here  and  there  protruding  through  the  soil,  the 
plain  is  as  desolate  as  if  it  had  never  been  conscious  of  a 
human  dwelling,  and  only  on  reaching  the  vicinity  of  the  mud 


140  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

hamlet  of  Karnak,  can  the  traveller  realize  that  he  is  in  Thebea 
Here  the  camel-path  drops  into  a  broad  excavated  avenue, 
lined  with  fragments  of  sphinxes  and  shaded  by  starveling 
acacias.  As  yon  advance,  the  sphinxes  are  better  preserved 
and  remain  seated  on  their  pedestals,  but  they  have  all  been 
decapitated.  Though  of  colossal  proportions,  they  are  seated 
so  close  to  each  other,  that  it  must  have  required  nearly  two 
thousand  to  form  the  double  row  to  Luxor.  The  avenue  final- 
ly reaches  a  single  pylon,  of  majestic  proportions,  built  by  one 
of  the  Ptolemies,  and  covered  with  profuse  hieroglyphics. 
Passing  through  this,  the  sphinxes  lead  you  to  another  pylon, 
followed  by  a  pillared  court  and  a  temple  built  by  the  later 
Remesides.  This,  I  thought,  while  my  friend  was  measuring 
the  girth  of  the  pillars,  is  a  good  beginning  for  Karnak,  but  it 
is  certainly  much  less  than  I  expect.  '•  Tddl  minhenneel  " 
(come  this  way !)  called  the  guide,  as  if  reading  my  mind,  and 
led  me  up  the  heaps  of  rubbish  to  the  roof  and  pointed  to  the 
north. 

Ah,  there  was  Karnak  !  Had  I  been  blind  up  to  this  time, 
or  had  the  earth  suddenly  heaved  out  of  her  breast  the  remains 
of  the  glorious  temple  ?  From  all  parts  of  the  plain  of  Thebes 
I  had  seen  it  in  the  distance — a  huge  propylon,  a  shattered 
portico,  and  an  obelisk,  rising  above  the  palms.  Whence  this 
wilderness  of  ruins,  spreading  so  far  as  to  seem  a  city  rather 
than  a  temple — pylon  after  pylon,  tumbling  into  enormous 
cubes  of  stone,  long  colonnades,  supporting  fragments  of  Titan- 
ic roofs,  obelisks  of  red  granite,  and  endless  walls  and  avenues, 
branching  out  to  isolated  portals  ?  Yet  they  stood  as  silently- 
amid  the  accumulated  rubbish  of  nearly  four  thousand  years, 
and  the  sunshine  threw  its  yellow  lustre  as  serenely  over  the 


KARNAK.  141 

despoiled  sanctuaries,  as  if  it  had  never  been  otherwise,  since 
the  world  began.  Figures  are  of  no  use,  in  describing  a  place 
like  this,  but  since  I  must  use  them,  I  may  say  that  the  length 
of  the  ruins  before  us,  from  west  to  east,  was  twelve  hundred 
feet,  and  that  the  total  circumference  of  Karnak,  including  its 
numerous  pylae,  or  gateways,  is  a  mile  and  a  half. 

We  mounted  and  rode  with  fast-beating  hearts  to  the  west- 
em  or  main  entrance,  facing  the  Nile.  The  two  towers  of  the 
propylon — ^pyramidal  masses  of  solid  stone — are  three  hundred 
and  twenty -nine  feet  in  length,  and  the  one  which  is  least  ruined, 
is  nearly  one  hundred  feet  in  height.  On  each  side  of  the  sculp- 
tured portal  connecting  them,  is  a  tablet  left  by  the  French 
army,  recording  the  geographical  position  of  the  principal 
Egyptian  temples.  We  passed  through  and  entered  an  open 
court,  more  than  three  hundred  feet  square,  with  a  corridor  of 
immense  pillars  on  each  side,  connecting  it  with  the  towers  of 
a  second  pylon,  nearly  as  gigantic  as  the  first.  A  colonnade 
of  lofty  shafts,  leading  through  the  centre  of  the  court,  once 
united  the  two  entrances,  but  they  have  all  been  hurled  down 
and  lay  as  they  fell,  in  long  lines  of  disjointed  blocks,  except 
one,  which  holds  its  solitary  lotus-bell  against  the  sky.  Two 
mutilated  colossi  of  red  granite  still  guard  the  doorway,  whose 
lintel-stones  are  forty  feet  in  length.  Climbing  over  the  huge 
fragments  which  have  fallen  from  above  and  almost  blocked  up 
the  passage,  we  looked  down  into  the  grand  hall  of  the  temple. 

I  knew  the  dimensions  of  this  hall,  beforehand ;  I  knew  the 
number  and  size  of  the  pillars,  but  I  was  no  more  prepared  for 
the  reality  than  those  will  be,  who  may  read  this  account  of  it 
and  afterwards  visit  Karnak  for  them  elves.  It  is  the  great 
good-luck  of  travel  that  many  things  must  be  seen  to  be  known 


142  JOURNEY  TO  CENTRAL  AFRICA 

Nothing  could  have  compensated  for  the  loss  of  that  oyer- 
whelming  confusion  of  awe,  astonishment,  and  delight,  which 
came  upon  me  like  a  flood.  I  looked  down  an  avenue  of  twelve 
pillars — six  on  each  side — each  of  which  was  thirty-six  feet  in 
circumference  and  nearly  eighty  feet  in  height.  Crushing  as 
were  these  ponderous  masses  of  sculptured  stone,  the  spreading 
bell  of  the  lotus-blossoms  which  crowned  them,  clothed  them 
with  an  atmosphere  of  lightness  and  grace.  In  front,  over  the 
top  of  another  pile  of  colossal  blocks,  two  obelisks  rose  sharp 
and  clear,  with  every  emblem  legible  on  their  polished  sides 
On  each  side  of  the  main  aisle  are  seven  other  rows  of  columns 
— one  hundred  and  twenty-two^  in  all — each  of  which  is  about 
fifty  feet  high  and  twenty-seven  in  circumference.  They  have 
the  Osiride  form,  without  capitals,  and  do  not  range  with  the 
central  shafts.  In  the  efforts  of  the  conquerors  to  overthrow 
them,  two  have  been  hurled  from  their  places  and  thrown 
against  the  neighboring  ones,  where  they  still  lean,  as  if  weary 
with  holding  up  the  roof  of  massive  sandstone.  I  walked  alone 
through  this  hall,  trying  to  bear  the  weight  of  its  unutterable 
majesty  and  beauty.  That  I  had  been  so  oppressed  by  Den- 
dera,  seemed  a  weakness  which  I  was  resolved  to  conquer,  and 
I  finally  succeeded  in  looking  on  Karnak  with  a  calmness  more 
commensurate  with  its  sublime  repose — ^but  not  by  daylight. 

My  ride  back  to  Luxor,  towards  evening,  was  the  next 
best  thing  after  Karnak.  The  little  animal  I  rode  had  become 
excited  by  jumping  over  stones  and  sliding  down  sand-heaps ; 
oar  guide  began  to  show  his  Bedouin  blood  by  dashing  at  full 
gallop  toward  the  pylons  and  reining  in  his  horse  at  a  bound, 
and,  to  conclude,  I  became  infected  with  a  lawless  spirit  tba* 
could  not  easily  be  laid.     The  guide's  eyes   sparkled  when  ] 


'      BEDOUIN    DIVERSIONS.  143 

proposed  a  race.  We  left  my  friend  and  the  water-carriers, 
bounded  across  tlie  avenue  of  sphinxes,  and  took  a  smooth  path 
leading  toward  the  Desert.  My  mare  needed  but  a  word  and 
a  jog  of  the  iron  stirrup.  Away  we  flew,  our  animals  stretch- 
ing themselves  for  a  long  heat,  crashing  the  dry  dourra-stalks, 
clearing  the  water-ditches,  and  scattering  on  all  sides  the  Arab 
laborers  we  met.  After  a  glorious  gallop  of  two  or  three  miles 
my  antagonist  was  fairly  distanced ;  but  one  race  would  not 
content  him,  so  we  had  a  second,  and  finally  a  third,  on  the 
beach  of  Luxor.  The  horses  belonged  to  him,  and  it  was  a 
matter  of  indifference  which  was  the  swiftest ;  he  raced  mere- 
ly for  the  delight  of  it,  and  so  did  I. 

The  same  gallant  mare  was  ready  for  me  at  night.  It  was 
precisely  full  moon,  and  I  had  determined  on  visiting  Karnak 
again  before  leaving.  There  was  no  one  but  the  guide  and  I, 
he  armed  with  his  long  spear,  and  I  with  my  pistols  in  my 
belt.  There  was  a  wan  haze  in  the  air,  and  a  pale  halo  around 
the  moon,  on  each  side  of  which  appeared  two  faint  mock- 
moons.  It  was  a  ghostly  light,  and  the  fresh  north-wind, 
coming  up  the  Nile,  rustled  solemnly  in  the  palm-trees.  We 
trotted  silently  to  Karnak,  and  leaped  our  horses  over  the  frag- 
ments until  we  reached  the  foot  of  the  first  obelisk.  Here  we 
dismounted  and  entered  the  grand  hall  of  pillars.  There  was  no 
sound  in  all  the  temple,  and  the  guide,  who  seemed  to  compre- 
hend my  wish,  moved  behind  me  as  softly  as  a  shadow,  and 
spoke  not  a  word.  It  needs  this  illumination  to  comprehend 
Karnak.  The  unsightly  rubbish  has  disappeared :  the  rents  in 
the  roof  are  atoned  for  by  the  moonlight  they  admit ;  the  frag- 
ments shivered  from  the  lips  of  the  mighty  capitals  are  only 
the  crumpled  edges  of  the  flower ;  a  maze  of  shadows  hides  the 


144  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL    AFRICA. 

desolation  of  the  courts,  but  every  pillar  and  obelisk,  pylon  and 
propylon  is  glorified  by  the  moonlight.  The  soul  of  Karnak 
is  soothed  and  tranquillized.  Its  halls  look  upon  you  no  longer 
with  an  aspect  of  pain  and  humiliation.  Every  stone  seems  to 
say :  "  I  am  not  fallen,  for  I  have  defied  the  ages.  I  am  a 
part  of  that  grandeur  which  has  never  seen  its  peer,  and  I  shall 
endure  for  ever,  for  the  world  has  need  of  me." 

I  climbed  to  the  roof,  and  sat  looking  down  into  the 
hushed  and  awfiil  colonnades,  till  I  was  thoroughly  penetrated 
with  their  august  and  sublime  expression.  I  should  probably 
have  remained  all  night,  an  amateur  colossus,  with  my  hands 
on  my  knees,  had  not  the  silence  been  disturbed  by  two  arri- 
vals of  romantic  tourists — an  Englishman  and  two  Frenchmen. 
We  exchanged  salutations,  and  I  mounted  the  restless  mare 
again,  touched  her  side  with  the  stirrup,  and  sped  back  to 
Luxor.  The  guide  galloped  beside  me,  occasionally  hurling 
his  spear  into  the  air  and  catching  it  as  it  fell,  delighted  with 
my  readiness  to  indulge  his  desert  whims.  I  found  the  cap- 
tain and  sailors  all  ready  and  my  friend  smoking  his  pipe  on 
deck.     In  half  an  hour  we  had  left  Thebes. 


THB   TEMPLE    OF    HERM0NTI8.  }45 


CHAPTER    XI. 

FROM  THEBES  TO  THE  NUBIAN  FRONTIER. 

The  Temple  of  Hermontts— Esneh  and  its  Temple — The  Governor— El  Kab  by  Torch* 
light— The  Temple  of  Edfoa— The  Quarries  of  Djebel  Silsileh— Ombos- Approach 
to  Nabia — Change  in  the  Scenery  and  Inhabitants — ^A  Mirage— Arrival  at  Assouan. 

Our  journey  from  Thebes  to  Assouan  occupied  six  days,  in- 
cluding a  halt  of  twenty-four  hours  at  Esneh.  We  left  Luxor 
on  the  night  of  December  8  th,  but  the  westward  curve  of  the 
Nile  brought  us  in  opposition  with  the  wind,  and  the  next  day 
at  noon  we  had  only  reached  Erment,  the  ancient  Hermontis, 
in  sight  of  the  three  peaks  of  the  Theban  hills.  We  left  our 
men  to  tug  the  boat  along  shore,  and  wandered  oflF  to  the 
mounds  of  the  old  city,  still  graced  with  a  small  temple,  or 
lying-in  house  of  the  goddess  Reto,  who  is  here  represented  as 
giving  birth  to  the  god  Hor-pire.  The  sculptures  in  the  dark 
chambers,  now  used  as  stalls  for  asses,  were  evidently  intend- 
ed only  for  the  priesthood  of  the  temple,  and  are  not  repeated, 
as  are  those  of  other  temples,  in  the  halls  open  to  the  public. 
Notwithstanding  the  great  license  which  the  Egyptian  faith 
assumed,  its  symbols  are,  in  general,  scrupulously  guarded 
from  all  low  and  unworthy  forms  of  representation. 

The  group  of  pillars  in  the  outer  court  charmed  us  by  the 
7 


146  JOURNEY    TO    OENTRAL    AFRICA. 

ricliness  and  variety  of  their  designs.  No  two  capitals  are  of 
similar  pattern,  while  in  their  combinations  of  the  papyrus,  the 
lotus  and  the  palm-leaf,  they  harmonize  one  with  another  and 
as  a  whole.  The  abacus,  between  the  capital  and  the  archi- 
trave, is  so  high  as  almost  to  resemble  a  second  shaft.  In 
Karnak  and  the  Memnonium  it  is  narrow,  and  lifts  the  pon- 
derous beam  just  enough  to  prevent  its  oppressing  the  lightness 
of  the  capital.  I  was  so  delighted  with  the  pillars  of  Hermon- 
tis  that  I  scarcely  knew  whether  to  call  this  peculiarity  a  grace 
or  a  defect.  I  have  never  seen  it  employed  in  modern  archi- 
tecture, and  judge  therefore  that  it  has  either  been  condemned 
by  our  rules  or  that  our  architects  have  not  the  skill  and  dar- 
ing of  the  Egyptians. 

We  reached  Esneh  the  same  night,  but  were  obliged  to  re- 
main all  the  next  day  in  order  to  allow  our  sailors  to  bake 
their  bread.  We  employed  the  time  in  visiting  the  temple, 
the  only  remnant  of  the  ancient  Latopolis,  and  the  palace  of 
Abbas  Pasha,  on  the  bank  of  the  Nile.  The  portico  of  the 
temple,  half  buried  in  rubbish,  like  that  of  Dendera,  which  it 
resembles  in  design,  is  exceedingly  beautiful.  Each  of  its 
twenty-four  columns  is  crowned  with  a  different  capital,  so 
chaste  and  elegant  in  their  execution  that  it  is  impossible  to 
give  any  one  the  preference.  The  designs  are  mostly  copied 
from  the  doum-palm,  the  date-palm,  and  the  lotus,  but  the 
cane,  the  vine,  and  various  water-plants  are  also  introduced. 
The  building  dates  from  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies,  and  its 
sculptures  are  uninteresting.  We  devoted  all  our  time  to  the 
study  of  the  capitals,  a  labyrinth  of  beauty,  in  which  we  were 
soon  entangled.  The  Governor  of  Esneh,  Ali  Effendi,  a  most 
friendly  and  agreeable  Arab,  accompanied  us  through  the  tem- 


EL    KAB    BY    TORCHLIGHT.  147 

pie,  and  pointed  out  all  the  fishes,  birds  and  crocodiles  he 
could  find.  To  him  they  were  evidently  the  most  interesting 
things  in  it.  He  asked  me  how  old  the  building  was,  and  by 
whom  it  had  been  erected.  On  leaving,  we  accepted  his  invi- 
tation to  partake  of  coffee  and  pipes.  The  visit  took  place  in 
due  form,  with  many  grave  salutations,  which  we  conscien- 
tiously imitated.  Achmet  had  returned  to  our  boat,  and  my 
small  stock  of  Arabic  was  soon  exhausted,  but  we  managed  to 
exchange  all  the  necessary  commonplaces. 

The  day  of  leaving  Esneh,  we  reached  El  Kab,  the  ancient 
Eleuthyas,  whose  rock-tombs  are  among  the  most  curious  in 
Egypt.  We  landed  at  twilight,  provided  with  candles,  and 
made  our  way  through  fields  of  wiry  half  eh  grass,  and  through 
a  breach  in  the  brick  wall  of  the  ancient  town,  to  the  Arabian 
Desert.  It  was  already  dark,  but  our  guide,  armed  with  his 
long  spear,  stalked  vigorously  forward,  and  brought  us  safely 
up  the  mountain  path  to  the  entrances  of  the  sepulchres. 
There  are  a  large  number  of  these,  but  only  two  are  worth 
visiting,  on  account  of  the  light  which  they  throw  on  the  social 
life  of  the  Egyptians.  The  owner  of  the  tomb  and  his  wife — 
a  red  man  and  a  yellow  woman — are  here  seen,  receiving  the 
delighted  guests.  Seats  are  given  them,  and  each  is  presented 
with  an  aromatic  flower,  while  the  servants  in  the  kitchen 
hasten  to  prepare  savory  dishes.  In  other  compartments,  all 
the  most  minute  processes  of  agriculture  are  represente  i  with 
wonderful  fidelity.  So  little  change  has  taken  place  in  three 
thousand  years,  that  they  would  answer,  with  scarcely  a  cor- 
rection, as  illustrations  of  the  Fellah  agriculture  of  Modern 
Egypt. 

The  next  morning  we  walked  ahead  to  the  temple  of  Edfou, 


148  JOURNEY    TO    CENTRAL   AFRICA. 

Bhooting  a  few  brace  of  fat  partridges  by  the  way,  and  scaring 
two  large  jackals  from  their  lairs  in  the  thick  grass.  The 
superb  pylon  of  the  temple  rose  above  the  earthy  mounds  of 
ApoUinopolis  like  a  double-truncated  pyramid.  It  is  in  an 
entire  state  of  preservation,  with  all  its  internal  chambers,  pas- 
sages and  stairways.  The  exterior  is  sculptured  with  colossal 
figures  of  the  gods,  thirty  feet  in  height,  and  from  the  base 
of  the  portal  to  the  scroll-like  cornice  of  the  pylon,  is  more 
than  a  hundred  feet.  Through  the  door  we  entered  a  large  open 
court,  surrounded  by  a  colonnade.  The  grand  portico  of  the 
temple,  buried  nearly  to  the  tops  of  its  pillars,  faced  us,  and 
we  could  only  judge,  from  the  designs  of  the  capitals  and  the 
girth  of  the  shaft,  the  imposing  effect  which  it  must  have  pro- 
duced on  those  who  entered  the  court.  The  interior  is  totally 
filled  with  rubbish,  and  a  whole  village  of  Arab  huts  stands  on 
the  roof. 

A  strong  wind  carried  us,  before  sunset,  to  the  quarries  of 
Djebel  Silsileh,  the  "  Mountain  of  the  Chain,"  where  the  Nile 
is  compressed  between  two  rugged  sandstone  hills.  The  river 
is  not  more  than  three  hundred  yards  broad,  and  the  approach 
to  this  rocky  gateway,  after  so  many  weeks  of  level  alluvial 
plain,  is  very  striking.  Here  are  the  sandstone  quarries  whence 
the  huge  blocks  were  cut,  to  build  the  temples  and  shape  the 
colossi  of  Thebes.  They  lie  on  the  eastern  bank,  close  to  the 
river,  and  the  ways  down  which  the  stones  were  slid  to  the 
vessels  that  received  them,  are  still  to  be  seen.  The  stone  is 
of  a  pale  reddish-brown  color,  and  a  very  fine  and  clear  grain. 
It  appears  to  have  been  divided  into  squares  of  the  proper  size, 
and  cut  from  above  downward.  The  shape  of  many  of  the 
enormous  blocks  may  be  easily  traced.     In  one  place  the  rock 


THE    RUINS    OF    OMBOS  149 

has  been  rouglily  hewn  into  a  sort  of  temple,  supported  by  pil 
lars  thirty  feet  square,  and  with  an  entrance  as  grand  and  rude 
as  a  work  of  the  Titans. 

In  the  morning  we  awoke  in  the  shadow  of  Ombos,  which 
stands  on  a  hill  overlooking  the  Nile,  into  which  its  temple  to 
Isis  has  fallen.  Little  now  remains  of  the  great  temple  to 
Savak,  the  crocodile-headed  god,  the  deity  of  Ombos,  but  it« 
double  portico,  supported  by  thirteen  pillars,  buried  nearl} 
waist-deep  in  the  sands.  The  aspect  of  these  remains,  seated 
on  the  lonely  promontory  commanding  the  course  of  the  river 
and  the  harvest-land  of  the  opposite  shore,  while  the  stealthy 
Desert  approaches  it  from  behind,  and  year  by  year  heaps  the 
sand  higher  against  the  shattered  sanctuary,  is  sadly  touching. 
We  lingered  and  lingered  around  its  columns,  loth  to  leave  the 
ruined  grace  which  a  very  few  years  will  obliterate.  Two  such 
foes  as  the  Nile  and  the  Desert  make  rapid  progress,  where  no 
human  hand  is  interposed  to  stay  them.  As  we  sailed  away,  a 
large  crocodile,  perhaps  Savak  himself,  lay  motionless  on  a 
sand-bank  with  his  long  snout  raised  in  the  air. 

We  were  two  days  in  sailing  from  Ombos  to  Assouan 
owing  to  a  dead  calm,  the  first  in  two  weeks.  The  nights  were 
very  cool,  and  the  mid-day  temperature  not  too  warm  for  com- 
fort. One  morning  my  thermometer  stood  at  40° ;  the  Arabs 
complained  bitterly  of  the  cold,  and,  wrapped  in  their  woolen 
mantles,  crawled  about  the  deck  as  languidly  as  benumbed  flies. 
At  noon  the  mercury  did  not  often  rise  above  75°  in  the 
shade.  As  we  approach  Nubia,  the  scenery  of  the  river 
undergoes  a  complete  change.  The  rugged  hills  of  black  sand- 
stone and  granite  usurp  the  place  of  the  fields,  and  leave  but  a 
narrow  strip  of  cultivable  land  on  either  side.     The  Arabs  are 


